The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about 6,300,000 km2 (2,400,000 sq mi), or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.
Loricariidae is the largest family of catfish, with 92 genera and just over 680 species. Loricariids originate from freshwater habitats of Costa Rica, Panama, and tropical and subtropical South America. These fish are noted for the bony plates covering their bodies and their suckermouths. Several genera are sold as "plecos", notably the suckermouth catfish, Hypostomus plecostomus, and are popular as aquarium fish.
The genus Panaque contains a small number of small to medium-sized South American suckermouth armoured catfishes that are notable for being among the very few vertebrates that feed extensively on wood. In addition, algae and aufwuchs are an important part of the diet, and they use their rasping teeth to scrape this from rocks. These fish are also popular aquarium fish, where the sound of scraping as these fish forage for food is easily audible.
Panaque nigrolineatus, the royal panaque, royal plec, or royal pleco, is an herbivorous freshwater armored catfish native to Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela where it occurs in the Orinoco and Amazon basins. It is known for being one of the few fish that digest wood. It grows to a length of 43.0 centimetres (16.9 in) and is a popular aquarium fish.
Panaqolus is a genus of small catfish in the family Loricariidae native to rivers in tropical South America. Its members were formerly thought to belong to a clade of small-sized species in the genus Panaque, until this genus was separated from Panaque in 2001. At times it has been considered a subgenus of Panaque, and the validity of the genus has been disputed by various authors and sources. Pseudoqolus koko was formerly considered to be a member of this genus, although it was reclassified as a member of the currently monotypic genus Pseudoqolus by Nathan K. Lujan, Christian A. Cramer, Raphael Covain, Sonia Fisch-Muller, and Hernán López-Fernández following a 2017 molecular phylogenetic analysis.
Panaque armbrusteri is a species of fish in the South American armoured catfish family Loricariidae. This species is distributed throughout the Tapajós river, a large tributary of the Amazon River, with similar populations found in the Xingu, Araguaia, Tocantins and Aripuanã rivers, although it is uncertain whether these populations comprise the same or different species. P. armbrusteri is a large loricariid, reaching 43 cm in total length and reportedly weighing up to 1.3 kg.
Panaque bathyphilus is an Amazonian species of armoured catfish from the family Loricariidae. The holotype of the species was collected in the Solimões River, upstream of its confluence with the Purus River. This species has been known in the aquarium trade, at least since 1992, as papa panaque or under the L-number code L090. It reaches up to about 40 cm (16 in) in length.
Panaque schaeferi is a freshwater species of fish from the South American armoured catfish family Loricariidae. Panaque schaeferi is widely distributed throughout the upper Amazon in Peruvian and Ecuadorian rivers, and it has been observed as far down as Santarém, Brazil. Growing to at least 60 cm SL, it is one of the largest, and likely one of the heaviest species of Loricariid. It has been known in the aquarium trade since at least 1996 under various names such as 'Titanic pleco' and 'Volkswagen pleco', in addition to L203 and LDA065 under the L-number code. Juveniles are often confused with Panaque bathyphilus and erroneously called L090c.
Panaque suttonorum, commonly known as the blue-eye panaque, is a species of freshwater fish from the South American catfish family Loricariidae. It is known from the Maracaibo Basin in Venezuela. In the wild, the species feeds on algae and reaches 28 cm SL, although it may grow larger in captivity.
Peckoltia pankimpuju is a species of armored catfish from the family Loricariidae, native to the Marañón River in the upper Amazon basin of Peru. It is commonly called the coal pleco, Peruvian lyre-tail, and L350 under the L-number code. It reaches up to about 40 cm (16 in) in length.
Scott Allen Schaefer is an American ichthyologist working at the American Museum of Natural History as the Dean of Science for Collections, Exhibitions, and the Public Understanding of Science; he serves as the Curator-in-Charge, in the Department of Ichthyology, within the Division of Vertebrate Zoology.
Ancistrus sericeus is a species of catfish in the family Loricariidae. It is native to South America, where it occurs in the basin of the Ampiyacu River, a tributary of the Amazon River, in Peru. The species reaches 5 cm SL.
Ancistrus greeni is a species of catfish in the family Loricariidae. It is native to South America, where it occurs in the Madre de Dios River and Inambari River basins in Peru. The species reaches 6.5 cm in total length.
Ancistrus heterorhynchus is a species of catfish in the family Loricariidae. It is native to South America, where it occurs in the Inambari River basin, which is part of the Madre de Dios River drainage in Peru. The species reaches 6.3 cm SL and is known to inhabit high-altitude areas.
Ancistrus marcapatae is a species of catfish in the family Loricariidae. It is native to South America, where it occurs in the Inambari River basin, which is part of the Madeira River drainage in Peru. The species reaches 12.4 cm in total length.
Baryancistrus beggini, commonly known as the blue panaque, is a species of catfish in the family Loricariidae. It is a freshwater fish native to South America, where it is known from Venezuela and Colombia. The species is found in areas with boulders or interstices of granitic bedrock in exposed portions of the Guiana Shield. It is reported to feed on periphyton and microfauna that occur on the surfaces and undersides of rocks in its habitat. The species reaches 8.1 cm SL. Its specific epithet honors Chris Beggin, who supported the research of the species. In the aquarium trade, this species is sometimes known by its L-number, which is L-239.
Hemiancistrus furtivus is a species of catfish in the family Loricariidae. It is native to South America, where it occurs in the Esmeraldas River basin in Ecuador. The species reaches 9.98 cm SL and was described in 2017 by Francisco Provenzano and Ramiro Barriga of the Central University of Venezuela, who report its placement in the genus Hemiancistrus to be tentative and suggest that it may belong to the tribe Hypostomini rather than Ancistrini, where it is currently placed. As of May 2022, FishBase does not list this species.
Panaqolus gnomus, sometimes known as the dwarf panaque, is a species of catfish in the family Loricariidae. It is a freshwater fish native to South America, where it occurs in the basins of the Pastaza River and the Marañón River. The species reaches 7.1 cm SL. It is the type species of the genus Panaqolus, which was historically considered to be a clade of small-sized species within the genus Panaque, hence the common name of this species.
Pseudoqolus koko is a species of catfish in the family Loricariidae and the only species in the genus Pseudoqolus. It is a freshwater fish native to South America, where it occurs in the Maroni basin. It is usually found on or near stony substrates in the main river channel at a depth of around 2 m. The species has been collected alongside multiple other loricariid species, including Hemiancistrus medians, Peckoltia otali, Pseudancistrus barbatus, Harttia guianensis, Loricaria cataphracta, and Rineloricaria stewarti. It is noted that the gut contents of one specimen of this species contained primarily spicules and sponge fragments, indicating that it may feed on freshwater sponges. The species reaches 9 cm SL.
Panaqolus purusiensis is a species of catfish in the family Loricariidae. It is native to South America, where it occurs in the Macauã River basin in the Purus River drainage in Brazil for which it is named, although it has also been recorded from the Curanja River, which is also part of the Purus drainage in Peru. The species reaches 13 cm SL. It was redescribed in 2014 by Christian A. Cramer due to a lack of information on the species from the original description, which was based on a single specimen.
