Chiapas catfish
Chiapas catfish | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Siluriformes |
Family: | Lacantuniidae Rodiles-Hernández, Hendrickson & Lundberg, 2005 |
Genus: | Lacantunia Rodiles-Hernández, Hendrickson & Lundberg, 2005 |
Species: | L. enigmatica
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Binomial name | |
Lacantunia enigmatica |
The Chiapas catfish, Lacantunia enigmatica, is an unusual species of catfish (order Siluriformes) from the Usumacinta River basin in the Mexican state of Chiapas and in Guatemala.[1] It was scientifically described in 2005 and placed in its own family Lacantuniidae. While discovery of an undescribed species of catfish is not uncommon, discovery of a new family of any vertebrate group is a rare event.[2] The Chiapas catfish mainly feeds on crabs, prawns, small fish, and large, tough plant seeds.[2] This catfish is commonly fished in its natural habitat, where it is known as madre de juil, which means "mother of Rhamdia" (a common fish in the area).[2]
Discovery
It first came to the attention of scientists in 1996, when Rócio Rodiles-Hernández, a Mexican
Taxonomy
This fish is not related to any of the families found in its range (
With recent molecular evidence, Lacantunia has been shown to be the sister group to Claroteidae, an African catfish family. It probably diverged from the claroteids in the Late Cretaceous between 75 and 90 million years ago.[3]
Distribution and habitat
The generic name of the fish reflects its distribution in the Lacantún River drainage, flowing through the Montes Azules and Selva Lacandona Biosphere Reserves in Chiapas, Mexico into the Usumacinta River.[2] After its initial discovery in the Lacantún, it was found to also inhabit other parts of the Usumacinta River basin, extending its range into northwestern Guatemala.[1] With the description of the new family, four catfish families are now found in this region.[2]
These fish inhabit deep river channels and pools, often but not always with rocks and strong eddy currents.[1] Few specimens were taken in stream mouths.[2]
Physical characteristics
Key variations that differentiate this genus from all other families are the shape of the animal's
References
- ^ .
- ^ ISSN 1175-5334.
- S2CID 4171034. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2009-03-26.
- ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2011). "Lacantunia enigmatica" in FishBase. December 2011 version.
External links
- Chiapas catfish Tree of Life Web Project
- Lacantunia enigmatica (Teleostei: Siluriformes) a new and phylogenetically puzzling freshwater fish from Mesoamerica (an alternative link for the scientific paper describing this fish)
- An unpublished first cladistic analysis of the Chiapas catfish (Lacantunia enigmata) among all catfishes and two anonymous reviews