''Boulengerella cuiveri'', commonly known as the bicuda, is a species of

pike-characin The Ctenoluciidae (meaning "comb light family"), also known as pike-characins, are a small family of freshwater fishes from Panama and South America. They have elongated, pike-like bodies, and several sharp and conical teeth. They are relativel ...

in the family Ctenoluciidae. The fish is named in honor of French naturalist and zoologist

Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, baron Cuvier (23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier (; ), was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuv ...

(1769–1832), because he was first to accurately diagnose the family Salmones, which at that time included all characiform fishes.

Description

''Boulengerella cuiveri'' grows to a maximum length of , and has a maximum published weight of . It has ten to eleven dorsal soft rays, nine to eleven anal soft rays, and 48 to 49 vertebrae. It lacks dorsal and anal spines. It is a

carnivore A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they ar ...

, and typically preys upon smaller fish.

Distribution and habitat

''Boulengerella cuiveri'' is a freshwater fish native to the

Amazon region The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivi ...

. It can be found in Peru and Brazil, the

Orinoco River 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 ...

in Colombia and Venezuela, and the tributaries of the Amazon, such as the

Tocantins River The Tocantins River ( , Parkatêjê dialect, Parkatêjê: ''Pyti'' ɨˈti is a river in Brazil, the central fluvial artery of the country. In the Tupi language, its name means "toucan's beak" (''Tukã'' for "toucan" and ''Ti'' for "beak"). It ...

Araguaia River The Araguaia River ( , Karajá language, Karajá: ♂ ''Berohokỹ'' eɾohoˈkə̃ ♀ ''Bèrakuhukỹ'' ɛɾakuhuˈkə̃ is one of the major rivers of Brazil, and a tributary of the Tocantins River. Geography The Araguaia River comes from ...

, Negro River,

Madeira River The Madeira River ( ) is a major waterway in South America. It is estimated to be in length, while the Madeira-Mamoré is estimated near or in length depending on the measuring party and their methods. The Madeira is the biggest tributary of ...

, and others as far as Bolivia. Furthermore, it is can also be found in the

Essequibo River The Essequibo River (; originally called by Alonso de Ojeda; ) is the largest river in Guyana, and the largest river between the Orinoco and Amazon River, Amazon. Rising in the Acarai Mountains near the Brazil–Guyana border, the Essequibo flows ...

in Guyana and French Guiana. It can be found on the surface of areas with rapidly flowing water, usually behind obstacles such as fallen logs or rocks.

Conservation status

In 2020, this species was assessed by the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

and determined to be a

least-concern species A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

References

{{Italic title Ctenoluciidae Fish of the Amazon basin Fish of the Tocantins River basin Fish of Bolivia Freshwater fish of Brazil Freshwater fish of Colombia Fish of French Guiana Fish of Guyana Freshwater fish of Peru Freshwater fish of Venezuela Fish described in 1829 Taxa named by Johann Baptist von Spix Taxa named by Louis Agassiz