Paravandellia

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Paravandellia
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Siluriformes
Family: Trichomycteridae
Subfamily: Vandelliinae
Genus: Paravandellia
A. Miranda-Ribeiro, 1912 [1]
Type species
Paravandellia oxyptera
A. Miranda Ribeiro, 1912 [2]
Synonyms [1]

Paravandellia is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Trichomycteridae, the pencil and parasitic catfishes, and the subfamily Vandelliinae, the haematophagic catfishes. The catfishes in this genus are found in South America.

Contents

Species

Paravandellia contains the following valid species: [2]

Distribution

P. oxyptera is distributed in the Paraná, Paraguay, and Uruguay River basins in Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. [3] P. phaneronema originates from the Magdalena and Cauca River basins of Colombia. [3]

Description

Paravandellia species grow to about 2.5–2.8 centimetres (0.98–1.10 inches) in length. [4] [5] Females have been found at 1.8 cm (0.71 in) TL in January (during the wet season) with about 150 mature oocytes each, and males may have well-developed testes at 2.0 cm (0.79 in) TL. [4]

Habitat & Habits

P. oxyptera inhabits rivers with sandy to muddy bottom. This species is a parasite. It forages both during the day and at night, seeking the gill chambers of larger fishes, especially catfishes. It enters and leaves the gill chamber during the host's ventilating movements. There, it feeds on blood drawn from the gill filaments and may stay in the gill chamber for 1–3 min. When gorged with blood, the fish moves to the bottom and buries itself in the sand. [4] A single large catfish tethered on the river bank may feed thousand of these parasitic catfish over a period of up to 6 hours. Large numbers of this fish may kill fishes tethered by fishermen. [4]

References

  1. 1 2 Fricke, Ron; Eschmeyer, William N. & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Vandelliinae". Catalog of Fishes . California Academy of Sciences . Retrieved 28 November 2025.
  2. 1 2 Fricke, Ron; Eschmeyer, William N. & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Paracanthopoma". Catalog of Fishes . California Academy of Sciences . Retrieved 28 November 2025.
  3. 1 2 Ferraris, Carl J. Jr. (2007). "Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types" (PDF). Zootaxa . 1418: 1–628. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1418.1.1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-03-11. Retrieved 2007-07-16.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Paravandellia oxyptera". FishBase . July 2007 version.
  5. ↑ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Paravandellia phaneronema". FishBase . July 2007 version.


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