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Rhamdia xetequepeque Silfvergrip, 1996

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Relevant Information:

Habitat: This species is so far known only from its type locality in the Jequetepeque River, just to the west of Chilete (Cajamarca and La Libertad) in the Peruvian Amazon (Silfvergrip 1996, Ortega et al. 2012, Bockmann 2003). Its area of occupancy (AOO) has been estimated to be 9 km² (using a 3 x 3 km grid cell). The species occurs in only one location, based on the current major threats affecting it (habitat modification and pollution). Diet: It feeds on insect larvae, crustaceans and small fishes (Galvis et al. 2006). Etymology: The specific name xetequepeque: Named for Río Jequetepeque River, Peru, type locality (Silfvergrip selected a variant but erroneous spelling to avoid confusion with R. jequitinhonha, a practice, he said, in line with how the genus-group name Rhamdia was formed).

Common Name:

None

Synonyms:

None

Family:

Heptapteridae

Distribution:

South America: Jequetepeque River basin, Peru. Type locality: Peru, Jequetepeque River, just W of Chilete (06º19'90"S, 78º25'90"W).

Size:

7.5cm. (3ins)

Temp:

24-26°C (75-79°F)

p.H.

6.0-7.0.

IUCN Red List

This species has a very restricted distribution (AOO = 9 km²) and occurs in only one location in northern Peru. The quality of the habitat is declining due to water pollution from urban areas and mining, the presence of a dam that leads to changes in water levels, and micro-habitat destruction due to channelling of the river. It is therefore listed as Critically Endangered, and needs updating, (IUCN 2016).

Reference:

Bockmann, F.A. and G.M. Guazzelli, 2003. Heptapteridae (Heptapterids). p. 406-431. In R.E. Reis, S.O. Kullander and C.J. Ferraris, Jr. (eds.) Checklist of the Freshwater Fishes of South and Central America. Porto Alegre: EDIPUCRS, Brasil.
Ferraris, C.J. Jr., 2007. Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types. Zootaxa 1418:1-628.
Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2021. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version (01/20021).
The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database © Christopher Scharpf.
Yépez, V., Ortega Torres, H., Velasquez Quispe, M., Hidalgo del Aguila, M., Espino Ciudad, J., Valenzuela Mendoza, L. & Chocano, L. 2016. Rhamdia xetequepeque. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016.

Family: Heptapteridae Back to Ident-A-Cat Click on Thumbnails

Rhamdia xetequepeque
Jequetepeque River, Peru

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