''Baryancistrus'' is a
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
of
freshwater
Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...
Loricariid
Loricariidae is the largest family of catfish (order Siluriformes), with over 90 genera and just over 680 species. Loricariids originate from freshwater habitats of Costa Rica, Panama, and tropical and subtropical South America. These fish are no ...
catfish
Catfish (or catfishes; order (biology), order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Catfish are common name, named for their prominent barbel (anatomy), barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, though not ...
. They inhabit flowing sections of rivers, especially
clearwater, in the basins of the
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...
(notably
Trombetas
The Trombetas is a large river on the northern side of the Amazon River.
Course
The Trombetas is long, and is navigable by 500 ton vessels for a stretch of . The Trombetas river gives birth to very many rivers, including the Anamu river.
It is ...
,
Tapajós
The Tapajós ( ) is a river in Brazil. It runs through the Amazon Rainforest and is a major tributary of the Amazon River. When combined with the Juruena River, the Tapajós is approximately long. Prior to a drastic increase in illegal gold mi ...
,
Xingu and
Tocantins
Tocantins () is one of the 26 states of Brazil. It is the newest state, formed in 1988 and encompassing what had formerly been the northern two-fifths of the state of Goiás. Tocantins covers and had an estimated population of 1,496,880 in 2014 ...
) and
Orinoco
The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers approximately 1 million km2, with 65% of it in Venezuela and 35% in Colombia. It is the List of rivers by discharge, f ...
(notably
Ventuari) in
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
and
Venezuela
Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
. The largest species reach up to in
total length
Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fishery biology.
Overall length
Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish measured f ...
.
Most ''Baryancistrus'' are differentiated from other related genera by a membrane connecting their dorsal fin and adipose fin, not present in most other genera.
The species of this genus are mainly
herbivore
A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet. These more broadly also encompass animals that eat ...
s and
detritivore
Detritivores (also known as detrivores, detritophages, detritus feeders or detritus eaters) are heterotrophs that obtain nutrients by consuming detritus (decomposing plant and animal parts as well as feces). There are many kinds of invertebrates, ...
s, but may take other foods in an aquarium setting. Most have probably not been bred in captivity. It is difficult to sex these fish, including adult specimens. These fish are mainly
nocturnal
Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite.
Nocturnal creatur ...
, but will also emerge from their hiding places during the day, after some time getting accustomed to the
aquarium
An aquarium (: aquariums or aquaria) is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. fishkeeping, Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aquati ...
. Adequate hiding places are recommended for these fish due to their primary nocturnal nature.
Species
There are currently eight recognized species in this genus:
Baryancistrus demantoides
''Baryancistrus demantoides'' is a species of armored catfish endemic to Venezuela.
It reaches a length of SL. It lives around granite rocks in flowing water, in the upper parts of Orinoco River.
The colour is green-brown with yellow spots on ...
'' Werneke, Sabaj Pérez, Lujan & Armbruster, 2005
*'' Baryancistrus hadrostomus''
* '' Baryancistrus longipinnis'' ( Kindle, 1895)
*'' Baryancistrus micropunctatus''
* '' Baryancistrus niveatus'' ( Castelnau, 1855)
* ''Baryancistrus xanthellus
''Baryancistrus xanthellus'' is a species of Loricariidae, armored catfish endemism, endemic to Brazil. It is a benthic fresh water fish that lives in the Volta Grande and Xingu River, as well as the area immediately above Belo Monte falls and t ...
'' Rapp Py-Daniel, Zuanon & R. R. de Oliveira, 2011 (Golden nugget pleco)
List of ''Baryancistrus sp.'' L-numbers
Though there are many types of fish described as ''Baryancistrus'', there are many that yet to be given a true scientific designation, and are only referred to under the L-number
The L-number system is a semi-scientific classification system of catfish based on photographs of shipments of tropical catfish of the family Loricariidae published by the German aquarium magazine DATZ (Die Aquarien- und Terrarienzeitschrift (The ...
system, including the Gold Nuggets. Here is a list of ''Baryancistrus'' by L-number designation. The common name and scientific name are included when available, though some of these fish are only commonly referred to by their L-number. For those fish without a scientific name, they are assumed to be ''Baryancistrus sp.''
* Note: L200 is also used to refer to ''Hemiancistrus subviridis
''Hemiancistrus subviridis'', the green phantom pleco, is a species of armored catfish from the family Loricariidae, commonly found in Venezuela. Within Venezuela, it is native to the Orinoco and Casiquiare drainage basins, where it is usually f ...
'', another Loricariid that is very similar in appearance to ''B. demantoides''.
See also
*List of freshwater aquarium fish species
A vast number of freshwater species have successfully adapted to live in aquariums. This list gives some examples of the most common species found in home aquariums.
Siluriformes, Catfish
Characiformes, Characoids
Cichl ...
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q147936
Ancistrini
Catfish genera
Freshwater fish genera