''Spectracanthicus murinus'' is a species of
suckermouth armored catfish endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
where it is found in the
Tapajós River
The Tapajós ( pt, Rio 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. It is one of the largest cle ...
basin. This species grows to a length of
SL.
''S. murinus'' appears to be unique in the sub-family
Ancistrinae
Ancistrini is a tribe of catfishes of the family Loricariidae. Most are restricted to tropical and subtropical South America, but there are also several genus (''Ancistrus'', '' Chaetostoma'', ''Hemiancistrus'' and '' Lasiancistrus'') in southern ...
in that it has lost many of the traits that describe this group, such as evertible cheek plates and modified opercle.
References
Ancistrini
Fish of South America
Fish of Brazil
Endemic fauna of Brazil
Fish described in 1987
{{Loricariidae-stub