Sazima, Ivan, Francisco A. Machado, and Jansen Zuanon. 2000. Natural history of (Scoloplacidae), a minute spiny catfish from the Pantanal wetlands. Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, 11(1), 89-95.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Iv ... 6a794f.pdf
Sazima et al. wrote:ABSTRACT
We studied the natural history of in a seasonally flooded area in the Paraguay River drainage in western Brazil. This spiny dwarf catfish is found in slow-moving streams with sandy to muddy bottom. During the day it hides amidst the exposed root tangle and basal portions of submersed aquatic vegetation, and also among bottom debris. At twilight and night S. empousa is found foraging in the shallows, where it feeds mostly on chironomid larvae and tiny oligochaetes. lt moves little and employs a hunting tactic that alternates periods of sit-and-wait with active foraging. When disturbed it may bury itself in the sand, diving quickly headfirst and making lateral movements with its body. A sample of 874 individuals (7.7-16.4 mm SL), taken at the end of the rainy season in late May through early August, contains six sexually dimorphic males (14.0-14.6 mm SL) and several presumably adult females (12.8-16.4 mm SL) with up to 300 oocytes in each ovary. In some features of its natural history, S. empousa resembles the small species of banjo catfishes of the family Aspredinidae, especially juveniles of the syntopic Dysichthys dariae.