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Johnny Jensen's Photographic Library (1) Frants Lehmann (2 Stamps) Jean-Francois Helias (1) Peru Aquarium Group (1) Liam Irons-Mclean (4) Allan James (2)

Now found in Thailand, Asia, where this large South American Pim has now been introduced to large ponds and fishing lakes for sport fishing along with other similar sized members of the Pimelodidae family such as Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum, Sorubimichthys planiceps and the Red Tail Catfish Phractocephalus hemiolopterus. There has been 5 new species described by Buitrago-Suárez, U.A. and B.M. Burr in 2007, to go alongside P. tigrinum, P. fasciatum and P. corruscans. These species are P. punctifer (Castelnau), P. reticulatum Eigenmann & Eigenmann, P. orinocoensen, P. metaense, and P. magdaleniatum. So far P. punctifer is the only species that has not been accepted in some publications in print and on the internet. Two species (P. punctifer ?and P. tigrinum) are sympatric in the Amazon Basin, two (P. metaense and P. orinocoense) are sympatric in the Orinoco Basin, and two others, P. corruscans and P. reticulatum, are sympatric in the Paraná. Pseudoplatystoma magdaleniatum and P. fasciatum each occur as the only species of Pseudoplatystoma in their respective individual ranges.

Spotted shovelnose

Sorubim caparary, Platystoma corruscans, Platystoma coruscans, Silurus macrocephalus

Pimelodidae

South America: Sao Francisco and Paraná River basins. Type locality: In flumine S. Francisci, Brazil.

150cm. (5ft 4ins)

22-26°C (71-77°F)

6.0-7.0.

Ferraris, C.J. Jr., 2007. Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types. Zootaxa 1418:1-628.
Buitrago-Suárez, U.A. and B.M. Burr, 2007. Taxonomy of the catfish genus Pseudoplatystoma Bleeker (Siluriformes: Pimelodidae) with recognition of eight species. Zootaxa 1512:1-38.