Aspidoras azaghal

Aspidoras azaghal Tencatt, Muriel-Cunha, Zuanon, Ferreira & Britto, 2020

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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Siluriformes (Catfishes) > Callichthyidae (Callichthyid armored catfishes) > Corydoradinae
Etymology: Aspidoras: Greek, aspis, -idos = shield + Greek, dora = skin (Ref. 45335); azaghal: The epithet ‘azaghal’ refers to a fictional character Azaghâl, the king of the Broadbeam Dwarves, one of the seven dwarf clans, and Lord of the dwarven realm of Belegost in the Blue Mountains during Middle Earth's First Age. The name is a double allusion: first about the region where the species was found, Terra do Meio, freely translated as ‘Middle Earth’ in English (fictional world of Tolkien's legendarium), and second by the fact that the new species occurs in a mountainous region and presents a relatively small size, which are both typical features of the fictional dwarves; noun in apposition.
Eponymy: Azaghâl was a king of the Dwarves in Tolkien’s Middle Earth stories. [...] (Ref. 128868), visit book page.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Freshwater; demersal. Tropical

Distribution Territories | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

South America: Brazil,

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 3.3 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 123754)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

This species is distinguished from its congeners by the following characters: absence of the median foramen at the dorsal-fin spine base; absence of the first dorsal-fin element, the spinelet; parieto-supraoccipital fontanel located medially on bone; lacks a longitudinal dark brown or black stripe along flank midline and ventral surface of trunk covered by relatively small irregular and/or roundish platelets; inner laminar expansion of infraorbital 1 well developed; with relatively wide frontal bone, its width equal to half of entire length; poorly developed serrations on posterior margin of the pectoral-fin spine (Ref. 123754).
Body shape (shape guide): elongated; Cross section: oval.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

The streams where this species was found were narrow (less than 2.0 m width) to moderately large (up to 20 m width), with low riffles alternating with smoothly running stretches; where the substrate was composed by white silica sand stretches mixed with pebbles, rock slabs and ledges, as well as large rocks of up to 2.0 m diameter; some coarse litter patches and submerged macrophyte banks found close to the margins and in backwaters. The banks were covered by thick riparian vegetation composed by trees, palms (mostly the buriti Mauritia flexuosa, Arecaceae) and herbaceous plants dominated by Spatiphyllum sp. (Araceae) in some stretches; the water clear to yellowish and relatively cold (24-25°C). The species was found in abundance in the main streams of the upper area of Serra do Pardo ridge, occupying moderate- to fast-flowing and shallow (less than 1 m deep) stretches. Individuals in groups (up to a dozen) were observed actively foraging during the day by sifting food particles amidst the upper layer of the sand substrate in shallow areas close to the margins. Associated fishes found sharing the streams were Callichthys callichthys and one species each of Laimosemion, Synbranchus, Astyanax and Characidium, all still unidentified and possibly new to science. The presence of a large waterfall of nearly 30 m height in the type locality may possibly be a barrier to the fish fauna inhabiting the lower portions of the Igarapé do Pontal basin, to which the streams of the upper portions of the Serra do Pardo are connected, which may explain the apparently depauperate local fish fauna (Ref. 123754).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator : Reis, Roberto E. | Collaborators

Tencatt, L.F.C., M.R. Britto, I.J.H. Isbrücker and C.S. Pavanelli, 2022. Taxonomy of the armored catfish genus Aspidoras (Siluriformes: Callichthyidae) revisited, with the description of a new species. Neotropical Ichthyology 20(3):1-159. (Ref. 129024)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-2 (Global))

Not Evaluated 

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | OneZoom | Open Tree of Life | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | TreeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoobank | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00741 (0.00287 - 0.01912), b=3.14 (2.92 - 3.36), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.0   ±0.3 se; based on size and trophs of closest relatives
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Low vulnerability (10 of 100). 🛈