Fishes near Iquitos

[Shane]

Did you take any fish traps to leave out overnight?
-Shane

[bekateen]

Did you take any fish traps to leave out overnight?
-Shane

No. Sadly, we didn't have any. I'll ask and see if we can get some.

Thanks for the tip.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

Update on fishing this year. My trip to ARCOF coincided with the visit of a young college student named AJ from SOKA University in Southern California, a student of Dr. Anthony Mazeroll, the head and heart of ARCOF. AJ had been a big help these weeks. Also here is a very nice German gentleman, Alexander Lenher, who won the ARCOF raffle to Iquitos. And with him came a face familiar to PlanetCatfish, @KarstenS . What a delight it's been to meet these two and fish with them. We collected a lot more fish from a more diverse set of creeks this year. The combination of people has made this a really fun trip and I'm seeing and learning a lot. Still no Microglanis and no large male Megalechis, but I've got a few more days.

A photo dump of some of the fish we've caught so far. First, fish from a stream of the Nanay. @Acanthicus helped with some IDs.

Megalechis picta, Batrochoglanis raninus, Amblydoras nauticus?, Tatia intermedia, a cetopsid (maybe Denticetopsis seducta?) and Trachelyopterus galeatus?

[bekateen]

From a stagnant swampy creek of the Itaya: Rineloricaria morrowi?, Hoplosternum littorale? (The position of the eye and lighter color says "not Megalechis" to me, but I would have hoped to see some forking of the tail), Corydoras(ln5) cf_elegans, Rhamdia quelen? and another small heptapterid (Pimelodella?)

[lfinley58]

Hi Eric,
Looks like you are having a good time!
First batch of photos - picture number three - small doradid. Looks like a Physopyxis species to me.
This is an edit...I goofed ("adult"): the 5 mm size that you provided is even smallish for the genus Physopyxis.
Lee

[bekateen]

Thanks Lee! Physopyxis. That would be wickedly awesome! I hope you're right. I have only 4, but I know where to find more.

[bekateen]

Went out fishing again yesterday in the creek where we caught Microglanis aff_poecilus last year. We finally caught one!

We also found and collected a large egg mass of the common Ancistrus here, and we're hatching the eggs at the Amazon Research Center for Ornamental Fishes. We also caught five more Batrochoglanis raninus, two about 3-4" SL, and a lot of Amblydoras nauticus. Also, super excited we caught a 2.5cm SL Physopyxis lyra! That confirms the genus (at least) of the tiny specimens we collected previously. Along with six more tiny specimens caught last night, I now I have about 10-12 of them. I foresee a new breeding protect!

[lfinley58]

Hi Eric,
Congrats on your flock of Physopyxis! They are a neat and interesting doradid. I had maintained a group of them that I collected in the Rio Negro in Brazil a number of years ago. But no breeding.

When you get home you might want to dig into the taxonomic weeds a bit in that in addition to P. lyra, another species, P. ananas is also found in the same area.

Continued good collecting!
Lee

[bekateen]

...in addition to P. lyra, another species, P. ananas is also found in the same area.

Yes, I saw that on SpeciesLink.net. My largest fish appears to have only one row of lateral spines, and its coracoids flare outward, so that's why I suspect P. lyra. The little specimens, I'm hoping, are the same, but here they are too small to examine. I'll check more closely back in the USA when I have access to a magnifying scope.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

I'm leaving Iquitos and ARCOF soon. I may get one or two more chances to fish the Itaya and Nanay, but this year, in spite of all the new things we found, there are several we didn't find this year, which were around last year:

• Almost no Ancistrus sp. green spot.
• No Tatia gyrina
• No Panaqolus changae
• No Hemiodontichthys acipenserinus
• and sadly, @yellowcat, no Batrochoglanis villosus.

Cheers,
Eric

[kruseman]

Interesting stuff! Have a great trip!

[bekateen]

Can I get a confirm on ID for this hypoptopomatine? I believe they are Hypoptopoma cf_guianense. We caught a lot of these along the Nanay. The color on the caudal peduncle and two tail lobes seem helpful. There's a very rudimentary adipose fin.

Thanks, Eric

[Jools]

Yes, agree with this ID (or at least I never got to species with this one). Also spotted in Iquitos fish exporters back when I was there.

Cheers,

Jools

[bekateen]

Hi Jools, are you responding to my post in CLOG data issues? Are you agreeing that cf_guianense is psilogaster?

Cheers, Eric

[Jools]

Hi Jools, are you responding to my post in CLOG data issues? Are you agreeing that cf_guianense is psilogaster?

Cheers, Eric

I didn't see that, so I will go look.

Cheers,

Jools

[bekateen]

August came late, but Christmas came early... Finally, after three months, most of the species I collected or bought in Iquitos in August landed in California. Of course, wild caught fish are prone to mortality, so I'm told that the local students and managers at ARCOF worked to replace some of the fish that died between my stay and shipping. I can't thank them enough.

What I just got home with are:

• 19 Panaqolus albomaculatus (purchased)
• 12-14 Hemiodontichthys acipenserinus (purchased)
• About a dozen Physopyxis lyra
• 3 Microglanis aff_poecilus from the Rio Nanay
• 6 Microglanis aff_poecilus from the Rio Blanco
• 3 Amblydoras nauticus (one might be a different species)
• 6 Rineloricaria lanceolata
• 3 Batrochoglanis villosus, one BIG! (7‐9" TL)
• 6 Ancistrus sp. Rio Nanay (one male 14cm SL and over 18cm TL... huge!)
• 2 Tatia gyrina
• Over a dozen hoplos
  • About 10 Dianema longibarbis
  • 2-3 Megalechis thoracata
  • 4 Lepthoplosternum sp. or Callichthys callichthys
    • If Lepthoplosternum, based on catch location (Rio Nanay), I would have expected Lepthoplosternum altamazonicum or Lepthoplosternum beni or Lepthoplosternum ucamara, but the key (HERE) for the species does not immediately get me there. The body seems too slender vertically, and the abdomen completely lacks spots. Nope... they are Callichthys callichthys.

Sadly, what didn't make it home was:

• A dozen Trachelyopterus galeatus
• A dozen Tatia intermedia
• A dozen Rineloricaria morrowi

Can you tell if the two doradids shown in photos are different or same species???

Cheers, Eric

[Jools]

The pattern is different, but to me, they look very similar morphologically just from the pics posted. That's a decent-sized Batrochoglanis!

Jools

[bekateen]

The lanceolata are finally starting to macho up!

[Shane]

They look great!
-Shane

[bekateen]

Thanks Shane! Yes I'm quite happy with them and they're doing well. I wish though that I had received the Rineloricaria morrowi in the shipment. Those are much less commonly imported than lanceolata.

Cheers, Eric