Pareiodon microps

{{Short description|Species of fish}}

{{Speciesbox

| image = The carrion-eating candiru Pareiodon microps.jpg

| genus = Pareiodon

| parent_authority =

| species = microps

| display_parents = 3

| authority = Kner, 1855

| synonyms =

Of Pareiodon

• Centrophorus
  Kner, 1859
• Astemomycterus
  Guichenot, 1860

Of Pareiodon microps

• Trichomycterus pusillus
  Castelnau, 1855

}}

Pareiodon microps is a species of catfish (order Siluriformes) of the family Trichomycteridae, and the only species of the genus Pareiodon.{{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|doi=10.11646/zootaxa.1418.1.1}} It is endemic to Brazil where it occurs in the Amazon Basin.{{FishBase species|genus=Pareiodon|species=microps|year=2012|month=February}}

Like its stegophiline relatives, they possess a sucking, disk-like mouth, along with inter- and opercular spines which facilitates adhesion to its food items, though this species is a scavenger, unlike its ectoparasitic relatives. During feeding events involving vertebrate carcasses, P. microps may be associated with other species of scavengers; the whale candirus, Cetopsis candiru and Ce. coecutiens, are not closely related to P. microps despite also being considered "candiru"; the vulture catfish Calophysus macropterus is a much larger scavenger that may also join the candirus at the carcass.{{cite journal |last1=Haddad Junior |first1=Vidal |last2=Zuanon |first2=Jansen |last3=Sazima |first3=Ivan |title=Medical importance of candiru catfishes in Brazil: A brief essay |journal=Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical (Journal of the Brazilian Society of Tropical Medicine) |date=2020–2021 |volume=54 |pages=e0540-2020 |doi=10.1590/0037-8682-0540-2020 |pmid=33759921 |pmc=8008855 |url=https://www.scielo.br/j/rsbmt/a/TWkZYVT6YmppsXVdgDZVQcF/?format=pdf&lang=en |access-date=1 November 2024}}