SCOTCAT.COM  

Daniel Blom (2) Allan James (5)

There are three species in this genera, P. ananas, P. cristata and the more well known P. lyra with the first two being described by Sousa and Py-Daniel (2005). Description: Physopyxis lyra differs from the other species of the genus by possessing a single row of spines on the lateral plates and a strong scapular girdle with long, broad coracoid processes having distal tips enlarged and divergent. outwards following expansion of process. Dorsal and pectoral spines strongly ossified. Dorsal spine pentagonal in cross-section with longitudinal groove along each lateral side, serrate along basal portion of anterior margin, posterior margin smooth. Pectoral spine well developed, depressed and curved, its tip usually reaching anal-fin origin. It is usually found in places with accumulated organic debris, like dense meshes of roots of floating macrophytes that are abundant in rivers with turbid water. Specimens also can be found among submersed leaf litter and among root mats of riparian plants, like Symmeria paniculata (Polygonaceae). Aquarium Care: Predominantly nocturnal, and spends most of day time sheltered among submersed root mats or buried in sand. Diet: Will eat most prepared foods such as sunken flake and tablet foods but has a liking for frozen bloodworm. Etymology: The specific name lyra: Latin for lyre, referring to the postcoracoid processes, “curved, and the extremities dilated outwards, so as to present with the thoracic portion exactly the form of the Grecian lyre”.

None

None

Doradidae

South America: Amazon River basin, Peru and Brazil. Type locality: Amazon. Described in more detail in Cope (1872a: 273, pl. 5, figs. 1a–1c), with locality as Ambyiacu River, Ecuador (now Peru).

3.5cm. (1½ins)

23-26°C (73-79°F)

6.5-7.0.

Ferraris, C.J. Jr., 2007. Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types. Zootaxa 1418:1-628.
Salvador, G.N. 2023. Physopyxis lyra. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2023.
ScotCat Factsheet no. 181. July 2011.
Sousa, L.M. and L.H. Rapp Py-Daniel 2005 Description of two new species of Physopyxis and redescription of P. lyra (Siluriformes: Doradidae). Neotrop. Ichthyol. 3(4):625-636.
The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database © Christopher Scharpf.