Prochilodontidae

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Prochilodontidae
Prochilodus lineatus.jpg
Semaprochilodus brama juvenile.jpg
Ichthyoelephas longirostris.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Characiformes
Suborder: Characoidei
Family: Prochilodontidae
C. H. Eigenmann, 1909 [1]

The Prochilodontidae, commonly known as the bocachicos or flannel-mouthed characins, are a small family of freshwater fishes found primarily in the northern half of South America, south to Paraguay and northern Argentina. This family is closely related to the Curimatidae, and were included in Characidae before that family was revised and split.

Contents

These fish have fleshy lips bearing rows of small teeth; their lips are able to be extended into a sucking disc used to feed on detritus and aufwuchs. They often live in huge schools, traveling upriver to spawn. In their native range, they are a popular food fish, and are caught in large numbers.

Taxonomy

Prochilodontidae possess a number of distinguishing features, such as their oral disc, procumbent dorsal fin spines, along with specific features of the front half of their skeleton, being those of the skull, hyoid and pharyngeal apparati, and branchial arch. [2]

Prochilodontidae contains the following genera: [3]

Cladogram of the most parsimonious hypothesis of relationships based on morphological analysis by Castro and Vari (2008): [2]

Biology

Aquarium tropical de Pierrefitte-Nestalas 03082018 Semaprochilodus 2.jpg
Aquarium tropical de Pierrefitte-Nestalas 03082018 Semaprochilodus 3.jpg
Semaprochilodus taeniurus ; mouth in action

After metamorphosis from their larval stage, they develop their oral disc, a feature unique to their family. The oral disc are made up of expanded fleshy lips which bears all their teeth, which are not rooted to the jaws as in other characins. [4] The associated structures of the skull, gill arches, and suspensorium also underwent adaptation to support this feeding apparatus. [2] Along with adaptations of the digestive system (notably the "elaboration and elongation" of the pyloric caeca and intestines), [5] [6] [7] these features allow prochilodontids to feed on detritus and aufwuchs, food sources typically exploited by invertebrates in a freshwater ecosystem. [2] Feeding directly on the detritus and aufwuchs may have allowed prochilodontids and curimatids, which are sister groups, to become major if not dominant components of Neotropical freshwater ichthyofauna. [6] Their feeding action reduces the amount of built-up sediment which affects the composition of invertebrate fauna in a waterway; this renders them as keystone species by their role as ecosystem engineers. [8]

School of Prochilodus lineatus with Brycon hilarii Cardume de peixes no Rio da Prata.JPG
School of Prochilodus lineatus with Brycon hilarii

They can make audible grunting noises that have been described as resembling the sound of a motorbike.[ verification needed ] [9]

Prochilodontids undergo regular migration, thought to be related to foraging and reproduction: daily migrations in the Paraná River may reach distances of 43 km (27 mi), [10] longer migrations may stretch for at least 1,500 km (930 mi), [11] and they may leap for several meters to overcome obstacles, [12] [10] [13] These journeys allow for significant levels of gene flow (reflected in high levels of genetic homogeneity within species of prochilodontids, despite inhabiting disparate river basins) [14] [15] along with the transport of nutrients and energy when they are hunted down by less migratory predators. [16] [17]

Biogeographical evidence suggests that Prochilodus may have retained its bauplan for at least 8 million years and possibly longer: Prochilodus magdalenae inhabits waterways which were separated from other river basins by the northern portions of the Andean Cordilleras by the late Miocene, around 11.8 to 10.0 million years ago. [18] Additionally, Prochilodontidae may have evolved much earlier than that: fossils of the derived curimatid Cyphocharax mosesi were dated to the Oligocene, at least 22.5 million years ago, which suggests the majority of Curimatidae's genera had by then evolved. As its sister group, Prochilodontidae is thought to have emerged by that time too. [2] Thus, it is thought that Prochilodus and the common ancestor of Semaprochilodus and Ichthyoelephas were extant by at least the Miocene; [2] other fish genera, such as the pacu Colossoma and the catfish Phractocephalus , possess fossil evidence suggesting they too were extant by that epoch. [19] [18]

Relation to humans

Ichthyoelephas humeralis in a fish market Bocachico tesoro de Babahoyo.JPG
Ichthyoelephas humeralis in a fish market

Their abundance is reflected by their prominence in South American freshwater fisheries: single species of prochilodontids often make up more than 50% of the total catch of fish in a river basin, [20] [21] and may sometimes reach 95% of the fishery in some regions. [22] Prochilodontid species are important components in fisheries from Venezuela to Argentina. [23] [24] [21] Their value as food may have lead to their introduction in Papua New Guinea. [25]

References

  1. ↑ Richard van der Laan; William N. Eschmeyer & Ronald Fricke (2014). "Family-group names of recent fishes". Zootaxa. 3882 (2): 1–230. doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1 . PMID   25543675.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Castro, Ricardo M. C.; Vari, Richard P. (2004). Detritivores of the South American fish family Prochilodontidae (Teleostei:Ostariophysi:Characiformes) : a phylogenetic and revisionary study. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books.
  3. ↑ Fricke, Ron; Eschmeyer, William N. & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Prochilodontidae". Catalog of Fishes . California Academy of Sciences . Retrieved 29 August 2025.
  4. ↑ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Family Prochilodontidae". FishBase . Mar 2007 version.
  5. ↑ Angelescu, V., and F.S. Gneri 1949. Adaptaciones del aparato digestivo al regimen alimenticio em algunos peces del Rio Uruguay y del Rio de la Plata, I: Tipo omnivoro and iliofago en representantes de las familias "Loricariidae" y "Anostomidae." Revista de la Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Naturales Buenos A ires, 1 (6): 162-27
  6. 1 2 Bowen, S.H. 1984. Detritivory in Neotropical Fish Communities. In T.M. Zaret, Evolutionary Ecology of Neotropical Fresh Water Fishes, pages 59-66. The Hague: W. Junk Publishers.
  7. ↑ Menin, E., and O.M. Mimura 1991. Aspectos anatomicos dos orgaos epibranquiais de Prochilodus marggravii (Walbaum, 1792) e Prochilodus affinis Reinhardt, 1874 (Characiformes, Prochilodontidae). Revista Ceres. 38(217):229-239.
  8. ↑ Flecker, A.S. 1996. Ecosystem Engineering by a Dominant Detritivore in a Diverse Tropical Stream. Ecology, 77(6): 1845-1854.
  9. ↑ Weitzman, S.H. & Vari, R.P. (1998). Paxton, J.R. & Eschmeyer, W.N. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. p. 104. ISBN   0-12-547665-5.
  10. 1 2 Godoy, M.P. de 1975. Peixes do Brazil: Sub-ordem Characoidei; Bacia do Rio Mogi-Guassu. 846 pages. Piracicaba, Brazil: Editora Franciscana.
  11. ↑ Sverlij, S., A. Ros, and G Orti 1993. Sinopsis de los datos biologicos y pesqueros del Sabalo Prochilodus lineatus (Valenciennes, 1847). FAO Sinopsis sobre la Pesca, 154: 1-64.
  12. ↑ Goulding, M. 1981. Man and Fisheries on an Amazon Frontier. 137 pages. The Hague: Junk Publishers.
  13. ↑ Mochek, A.D., and D.S. Pavlov 1998. The Ecology of Sabalo Prochilodus lineatus (Curimatidae, Characoidei) of the Pilcomayo River (South America). Journal of Ichthyology, 38(1 ):28—36. [Originally published in Russian in Voprosy lkhtiologii. 38(1):33-41.]
  14. ↑ Revaldaves, E., E. Renesto, and M.F.P.S. Machado 1997. Genetic Variability of Prochilodus lineatus (Characiforms, Prochilodontidae) in the Upper Parana River. Brazilian Journal ofGenetics, 20(3):381-388.
  15. ↑ Sivasundar, A., Bermingham, E., and G Orti 2001. Population Structure and Biogeography of Migratory Freshwater Fishes (Prochilodus: Characiformes) in Major South American Rivers. Molecular Ecology. 10(2):407-417.
  16. ↑ Winemiller, K.O., and D.B. Jepsen 1998. Effects of Seasonality and Fish Movement on Tropical River Food Webs. Journal of Fish Biology, 53 (supplement A):267-296.
  17. ↑ Lucas, M.C, and E. Baras 2001. Migration of Freshwater Fishes. 420 pages. Oxford: Blackwcll Science Ltd.
  18. 1 2 Lundberg, J.G, L.G Marshall, J. Guerrero, B. Horton, M.C.S.L. Malabarba, and F. Wesselingh 1998. The Stage for Neotropical Fish Diversification: A History of Tropical South American Rivers. In L. Malabarba, R. Reis, R.P. Vari, C. Lucena, and M. Lucena, editors, Phytogeny and Classification of Neotropical Fishes, pages 13-48. Porto Alegre, Brazil: Edipucrs.
  19. ↑ Lundberg, J.G, A. Machado-Allison, and R.F. Kay 1986. Miocene Characid Fishes from Colombia: Evidence for Evolutionary Statis and Extirpation in the South American Ichthyofauna. Science. 234:208-209.
  20. ↑ Bonetto, A.A.1975. Hydrologic Regime of the Parana River and Its Influence on Ecosystems. In A.D. Hasler, editor, Coupling of Land and Water Systems. Ecological Studies, 10:175-197. New York: Springer-Verlag.
  21. 1 2 Bonetto, A.A. 1994. Austral Rivers of South America. In R. Margalef, editor, Limnology Now: A Paradigm of Planetary Problems, pages 425—472. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science B.V.
  22. ↑ Sverlij, S., A. Ros, and G Orti 1993. Sinopsis de los datos biologicos y pesqueros del Sabalo Prochilodus lineatus (Valenciennes, 1847). FAO Sinopsis sobre la Pesca, 154: 1-64.
  23. ↑ Espinosa, V. de, and C.B. Gimenez 1974. Estudio sobre la biologia y pesca del bocochico Prochilodus reticulatus (Valenciennes) en el Lago de Maracaibo. lnforme Tecnico, Oficina Nacional de Pesca (Caracas), 63:1-32.
  24. ↑ Novoa, R., D., F. Cervigon, and F. Ramos 1982. Catalogo de los recursos pesqueros del Delta del Orinoco. In D. Novoa R., Los recursos pesqueros del Rio Orinoco y su explotacion, pages 263-386. Caracas: Editoria Arte
  25. ↑ Wafy, A. 2001. The Different Fish Species in Sepik River. Focus Viewpoint, pages 1, 2. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea: Post Courier.
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