''Pterygoplichthys pardalis'', the Amazon sailfin catfish, is a
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 ...
tropical fish
Tropical fish are fish found in aquatic tropical environments around the world. Fishkeepers often keep tropical fish in freshwater and saltwater aquariums. The term "tropical fish" is not a taxonomic group, but rather is a general term for f ...
in the armored catfish family (
Loricariidae
Loricariidae is the largest family (biology), family of catfish (order Siluriformes), with over 90 genus, genera and just over 680 species. Loricariids originate from freshwater habitats of Costa Rica, Panama, and tropical and subtropical South A ...
). It is one of a number of species commonly referred to as the
common pleco or "leopard pleco" by
aquarist
An aquarist is a person who manages aquariums, either professionally or as a hobby. They typically care for aquatic animals, including fish and marine invertebrates. Some may care for aquatic mammals. Aquarists often work at public aquariums. They ...
s.It can be called 豹紋翼甲鯰 in
Mandarin Chinese
Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...
.
Description
This species will grow to a maximum length of
SL and reach a weight of 310 g.
It is sometimes confused with the ''
Hypostomus plecostomus
''Hypostomus plecostomus'', also known as the suckermouth catfish or common pleco, is a tropical freshwater fish belonging to the Loricariidae, armored catfish family (Loricariidae), named for the longitudinal rows of armour (anatomy), armor-lik ...
'' (another armored catfish known as the "common plecostomus"). The two species can be distinguished by their number of dorsal rays. ''P. pardalis'' has 11–13, while the ''H. plecostomus'' has only 5–8 dorsal rays. It is also commonly misindentified as ''P. disjunctivus'' and can be differentiated by its spotted patterning.
There is an albino color variation of this species, usually referred to as an "Albino Plecostomus". The
amelanistic form may also be sold as the "chocolate pleco".
Distribution and habitat
The species is native to the
Amazon River Basin
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 ...
of
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
Peru
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
, preferring pH ranges of 7.0–7.5. It is a facultative air breather; although normally a bottom-dwelling fish, it has the ability to breathe air from the surface of the water during dry periods or when dissolved oxygen is too low. The Amazon sailfin catfish has been introduced to a number of countries outside its native range.
[ It is recorded in the Marikina River in the ]Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
and known as the "janitor fish", where it has become a local pest and sold in bulk, in efforts to eliminate the fish. In the United States, invasive populations of sailfin catfishes like the Amazon sailfin catfish have been observed to be ecologically detrimental, as they disrupt aquatic food chains, decrease the abundance of native aquatic species, and degrade aquatic plants or banks of waterbodies through burrowing and tunneling.
Invasive species
In Malaysia
Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
, the fish was brought into the country in the 1970s for fish hobbyists. It is believed that they are dumped into Malaysian rivers and lakes by aquarium owners when it is too big for their fish tanks.
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=Q3498871
Hypostominae
Suckermouth catfish of Brazil
Freshwater fish of Peru
Taxa named by François-Louis Laporte, comte de Castelnau
Fish described in 1855