Petitella bleheri

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Petitella bleheri
Brilliant rummy nose - Petitella bleheri - 2.jpg
Group of P. bleheri in an aquarium
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Characiformes
Family: Acestrorhamphidae
Genus: Petitella
Species:
P. bleheri
Binomial name
Petitella bleheri
(Géry & Mahnert, 1986) [2]
Synonyms [2]

Hemmigrammus bleheriGéry & Mahnert, 1986

Petitella bleheri, the firehead tetra, brilliant rummynose tetra or rednose tetra, is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Acestrorhamphidae, the American characins. This fish is found in South America, where it is caught for the aquarium trade.

Contents

Taxonomy and systematics

Petitella bleheri was first formally described in Tropical Fish Hobbyist magazine as Hemmigrammus bleheri in 1986 by the French ichthyologist Jacques Géry and the Austrian zoologist Volker Mahnert with its type locality given as the middle basin of the Rio Negrom, probably mear Rio Jufaris. [2] In 2020 this species was reclassified in the formwerly monospecific genus Petitella as a molecular phylogentic study found that it was sister to the false rummy-nose tetra (P. georgiae). [3] The genus Petitella belong s to the subfamily Megalamphodinae, the red tetras, within the American tetra family, Acestrorhamphidae. [4] This family is classified within the suborder Characoidei of the order Characiformes. [5]

The mitochondrial genome of Petitella bleheri was fully sequenced in 2015 using standard polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques, and found to be 17,021 base pairs long. [6]

Etymology

Petitella bleheri is classified in the genus Petitella, this name suffixes the Latin diminutive -ella onto the surname of the French zoologist and anatomist Georges Petit, who was director of the Laboratoire Arago in France. The specific name, bleheri, honors the species' discoverer, the German explorer and fish trader Heiko Bleher. [7]

Description

Petitella bleheri has a laterally compressed body with a amximum standard length of 3.6 cm (1.4 in). It can be told apart from the other species in the genus Petitella by having a much more intense and widespread red color in the head, this reaching the humeral region, by having a longitudinal black bar at the end of the caudal peduncle which does not extend far forward and in having a hyaline anal fin with no black bar. [8]

Distribution and habitat

Petitella bleheri is found in South America where it occurs in the middle rio Negro, and from the upper and middle rio Orinoco basins in Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela. It is found in both clear and blackwater tributaries in flooded forests. [1]

Diet

Petitella bleheri feeds on algae and zooplankton, and speciemns taken from the Rio Negro have had plant ammter and detritus in their guts. [1]

In the aquarium

This species is common in the aquarium trade. Between the years of 2006 to 2015, 7,178,906 specimens of Petitella bleheri were exported from the Amazonas state of Brazil, accounting for 5.04% of all fish exported from Amazonas for the ornamental fish trade during that time. [9]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Lima, F. (2023). "Petitella bleheri". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2023 e.T164583297A164583301. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2023-1.RLTS.T164583297A164583301.en . Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Petitella". Catalog of Fishes . California Academy of Sciences . Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  3. ↑ Bittencourt, P. S.; V. N. Machado; B. G. Marshall; T. Hrbek; and I. P. Farias (2020). "Phylogenetic relationships of the neon tetras Paracheirodon spp. (Characiformes: Characidae: Stethaprioninae), including comments on Petitella georgiae and Hemigrammus bleheri". Neotropical Ichthyology. 18 (2): 1–11. doi:10.1590/1982-0224-2019-0109.
  4. ↑ Melo, Bruno F; Ota, Rafaela P; Benine, Ricardo C; et al. (2024-09-01). "Phylogenomics of Characidae, a hyper-diverse Neotropical freshwater fish lineage, with a phylogenetic classification including four families (Teleostei: Characiformes)" . Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 202 (1) zlae101. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae101. ISSN   0024-4082.
  5. ↑ R. Fricke; W. N. Eschmeyer; R. Van der Laan (2025). "ESCHMEYER'S CATALOG OF FISHES: CLASSIFICATION". California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  6. ↑ Li, Chunyan; Sun, Zhijing; Fen, Shouming; Jiang, Jufeng; Wu, Huimen; Zhang, Zhenguo; Cai, Chao; Wang, Yongchen (6 November 2015). "The complete mitochondrial genome of Hemigrammus bleheri". Mitochondrial DNA Part A. 27 (6). Taylor & Francis: 4449–4450. doi:10.3109/19401736.2015.1089565. PMID   26544159. S2CID   3831171.
  7. ↑ Scharpf, Christopher & Lazara, Kenneth J. "Family CHARACIDAE: Subfamily STETHAPRIONINAE Eigenmann 1907 (American Tetras)". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  8. ↑ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Petitella bleheri". FishBase . April 2024 version.
  9. ↑ Tribuzy-Neto, Ivan Azevedo; Beltrão, Hélio; Benzaken, Zehev Schwartz & Yamamoto, Kedma Cristine (26 March 2021). "Analysis of the Ornamental Fish Exports from the Amazon State, Brazil". Boletim do Instituto de Pesca. 46 (4). doi: 10.20950/1678-2305.2020.46.4.554 . ISSN   1678-2305 . Retrieved 25 April 2024. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
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