Britski's catfish

Britski's catfish
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Siluriformes
Family:	Callichthyidae
Genus:	Brochis[1][2][3]
Species:	C. britskii
Binomial name
Brochis britskii (Nijssen & Isbrücker, 1983)

Britski's catfish (Brochis britskii) is a tropical freshwater fish belonging to the Corydoradinae sub-family of the Callichthyidae family. It originates in inland waters in South America, and is found in the upper Paraguay River basin in Brazil. It was originally described by Nijssen & Isbrücker in 1983.

Some believe that this species should be classified as Corydoras britskii and Brochis should be synonymized with Corydoras.^[4]

The fish has a high number of dorsal fin rays (15-18) when compared with Corydoras species. It has a shorter snout than C. splendens and C. multiradiatus, a larger eye, grows to a larger size, and has its head covered ventrally by a large shield extending beyond the tip of the mental barbels. It will grow in length up to 8.8 centimeters (3.5 inches).

It lives in a tropical climate in water with a temperature range of 20 - 24 °C (68 - 75 °F). It feeds on worms, benthic crustaceans, insects, and plant matter. It lays eggs in dense vegetation and adults do not guard the eggs.

See also

• List of freshwater aquarium fish species

References

1. ^ http://www.fishbase.org/summary/SpeciesSummary.php?genusname=Brochis&speciesname=britskii
2. ^ Encyclopedia of Aquarium and Pond Fish (2005) (David Alderton) page 121
3. ^ http://www.scotcat.com/callichthyidae/b_britskii.htm
4. ^ Britto, Marcelo R. (December 2003). "Phylogeny of the subfamily Corydoradinae Hoedeman, 1952 (Siluriformes: Callichthyidae), with a definition of its genera" (PDF). Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 153 (1): 119–154. doi:10.1635/0097-3157(2003)153[0119:POTSCH]2.0.CO;2. http://acd.ufrj.br/ppgzoo/orientadores/dados/Artigos%20Brito/Phylogeny%20Corydoradinae%20(Britto).pdf. Retrieved 2009-06-25. 

• Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2006). "Brochis britskii" in FishBase. March 2006 version.
• Burgess, Dr. Warren E. (1987). A Complete Introduction to Corydoras and Related Catfishes. Neptune City, NJ: T.F.H. Publications. ISBN 0-86622-264-2.