Trichomycteridae

Taxobox
name = Parasitic catfish

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image_width = 250px
image_caption = "Vandellia cirrhosa"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Actinopterygii
ordo = Siluriformes
superfamilia = Loricarioidea
familia = Trichomycteridae
familia_authority = Bleeker, 1858
subdivision_ranks = Genera [ITIS|ID=164269|taxon=Trichomycteridae|year=2007|date=July 12]
subdivision = Subfamily Copionodontinae
"Copionodon"
"Glaphyropoma"
Subfamily Glanapteryginae
"Glanapteryx"
"Listrura"
"Pygidianops"
"Typhlobelus"
Subfamily Sarcoglanidinae
"Ammoglanis"
"Malacoglanis"
"Microcambeva"
"Sarcoglanis"
"Stauroglanis"
"Stenolicmus"
Subfamily Stegophilinae
"Acanthopoma"
"Apomatoceros"
"Haemomaster"
"Henonemus"
"Homodiaetus"
"Megalocentor"
"Ochmacanthus"
"Parastegophilus"
"Pareiodon"
"Pseudostegophilus"
"Schultzichthys"
"Stegophilus"
Subfamily Trichogeninae
"Trichogenes"
Subfamily Trichomycterinae
"Bullockia"
"Eremophilus"
"Hatcheria"
"Rhizosomichthys"
"Silvinichthys"
"Trichomycterus"
Subfamily Tridentinae
"Miuroglanis"
"Tridens"
"Tridensimilis"
"Tridentopsis"
Subfamily Vandelliinae
"Paracanthopoma"
"Paravandellia"
"Plectrochilus"
"Vandellia"
"incertae sedis"
"Ituglanis"
"Scleronema"

Trichomycteridae is a family of catfishes (order Siluriformes) commonly known as the pencil or parasitic catfishes. This family includes the infamous candiru fish, feared by some people for its habit of entering into the urethra of humans.

This family is prohibited to import into various parts of the USA.FishBase family|family=Trichomycteridae|year=2007|month=July]

Taxonomy

Trichomycteridae comprises about 41 genera and 207 species.cite journal|url=http://silurus.acnatsci.org/ACSI/library/biblios/2007_Ferraris_Catfish_Checklist.pdf|title=Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types|first=Carl J., Jr.|last=Ferraris|journal=Zootaxa|volume=1418|pages=1–628|year=2007|format=PDF] It is the second-most diverse family of the superfamily Loricarioidea.cite journal|url=http://www.ufrgs.br/ni/vol3num4%5CNI_v3n4p455-464lowr.pdf|journal=Neotropical Ichthyology|volume=3|issue=4|pages=455–464|year=2005|title="Ituglanis macunaima", a new catfish from the rio Araguaia basin, Brazil (Siluriformes: Trichomycteridae)|first=Aléssio|last=Datovo|coauthors=Landim, Maria Isabel|format=PDF|doi=10.1590/S1679-62252005000400002] Numerous species still remain undescribed.

The monophyly of Trichomycteridae is well-supported. The family is divided into eight subfamilies. The only subfamily that is not monophyletic is the largest one, Trichomycterinae.cite journal|journal=Copeia|year=2005|issue=1|pages=100–108|title=Phreatic Catfish of the Genus "Silvinichthys" from Southern South America (Teleostei, Siluriformes, Trichomycteridae)|first=Luis|last=Fernández|coauthors=de Pinna, Mario C. C.|doi=10.1643/CI-03-158R2|volume=2005] A large clade within Trichomycteridae is also suggested that includes the subfamilies Tridentinae, Stegophilinae, Vandelliinae, Sarcoglanidinae and Glanapteryginae (the so-called TSVSG clade); this large clade in turn forms a larger monophyletic group with the two genera "Ituglanis" and "Scleronema". The latter two genera are not classified in any of the subfamilies. The basal subfamilies Copionodontinae and Trichogeninae are sister groups to each other, and together they form a clade that is sister to the rest of the Trichomycteridae.cite journal|journal=Neotropical Ichthyology|volume=6|issue=3|pages=301-306|year=2008|title=A new species of "Glaphyropoma": the first subterranean copionodontine catfish and the first occurrence of opercular odontodes in the subfamily (Siluriformes: Trichomycteridae)|first=Maria Elina|last=Bichuette|coauthors=de Pinna, Mario César Cardoso; Trajano, Eleonora]

Distribution

Trichomycteridae has the greatest distribution of any catfish family.cite journal|url=http://www.scielo.br/pdf/isz/v92n3/12975.pdf|title=Revisão Taxonômica do Gênero "Homodiaetus" (Teleostei, Siluriformes, Trichomycteridae) (Portuguese)|first=Walter Rudolf|last=Koch|journal=Iheringia, Sér. Zool., Porto Alegre|volume=92|issue=3|pages=33–46|date=30 September 2002|format=PDF] It is widely distributed throughout the Neotropics.cite journal|url=http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/bitstream/2246/5665/1/N3496.pdf|title=New and Noteworthy Venezuelan Glanapterygine Catfishes (Siluriformes, Trichomycteridae), with Discussion of Their Biogeography and Psammophily|first=Scott A.|last=Schaefer|coauthors=Provenzano, Francisco; de Pinna, Mario; Baskin, Jonathan N.|journal=American Museum Novitates|issue=3496|pages=1–27|date=November 29, 2005|format=PDF] These fish originate from freshwater in Costa Rica, Panama, and throughout South America.cite book|title=Fishes of the World|last=Nelson|first=Joseph S.|publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc|year=2006|isbn=0-471-25031-7] The family extends from Panama southward to Chile and Argentina.

Description

The bodies of these fish are normally naked and elongate. The chin barbels are usually absent, nasal barbels are usually present, and there are usually two pairs of maxillary barbels. Most of these fish lack an adipose fin. Some of these fish also lost pelvic fins.

Many trichomycterids are small enough to be considered "miniatiurized" (does not exceed 26 millimetres (1.0 in) SL). Miniaturization occurs in many of the trichomycterid subfamilies, including Trichomycterinae, Glanapteryginae, Vandelliinae (in "Paravandellia"), Tridentinae, and Sarcoglanidinae. Miniaturization has probably occurred four times in trichomycterid evolution, as Glanapteryginae and Sarcoglanidinae are closely related and may have a single miniaturized ancestor.cite journal|url=http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/bitstream/2246/5105/1/N2950.pdf|title=A New Sarcoglanidine Catfish, Phylogeny of Its Subfamily, and an Appraisal of the Phyletic Status of the Trichomycterinae (Teleostei, Trichomycteridae)|first=Mario C. C.|last=de Pinna|journal=American Museum Novitates|issue=2950|pages=1–39|date=August 9, 1989|format=PDF]

Ecology

Though the family is commonly known as "parasitic catfishes", Trichomycteridae may actually include the widest range of trophic adaptations within any single catfish family. Only the two subfamilies Vandelliinae and Stegophilinae are considered to be parasitic fishes, including the infamous "candirú" or vampire catfish, feared by some people for its habit of entering into the urethra of humans. Apart from the free-living, generalized predators of small invertebrates, trophic modes represented by trichomycterids include the hematophagy (feeding on blood) in Vandelliinae, the lepidophagy (scales) and mucophagy (mucus) in some Stegophilinae and necrophagy (carrion) in others, and partial algivory (algae) in Copiondontinae.

Trichomycteridae includes species that are active swimmers (Copionodontinae and Trichogeninae), torrent dwellers (Trichomycterinae), litter leaf dwellers ("Ituglanis"), and sand-dwellers (Glanapteryginae and Sarcoglanidinae). Species may be restricted to elevations above 4000 metres (13000 ft) in the Andes, Andean lakes, off-shore coastal islands, lowland species known only from large rapids, leaflitter puddles, and the bottom of torrential rivers. Trichomycterids are one of the most successful groups to occupy cave habitats; it contains twelve hypogean species. Such species include "Ituglanis bambui", "I. epikarsticus", "I. passensis", "I. ramiroi", and "Silvinichthys bortayro". [cite journal|url=http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2007f/z01541p055f.pdf|title="Trichomycterus santanderensis": A new species of troglomorphic catfish (Siluriformes, Trichomycteridae) from Colombia|first=Cesar A.|last=Castellanos-Morales|journal=Zootaxa|volume=1541|pages=49–55|year=2007|format=PDF] Six of the hypogean species are of the genus "Trichomycterus": "Trichomycterus chaberti", "T. itacarambiensis", "T. santanderensis", "T. spelaeus", and "T. uisae".cite journal|title="Trichomycterus uisae": a new species of hypogean catfish (Siluriformes: Trichomycteridae) from the northeastern Andean Cordillera of Colombia|first=Cesar A.|last=Castellanos-Morales|journal=Neotropical Ichthyology|volume=6|issue=3|pages=307-314|year=2008]

References