Trichomycteridae

{{Automatic taxobox

|image=Candiru.png

|image_caption=Vandellia cirrhosa

|taxon=Trichomycteridae

|authority=Bleeker, 1858

|subdivision_ranks=Subfamilies

|subdivision_ref={{ITIS |id=164269 |taxon=Trichomycteridae |access-date=July 12, 2007}}

|subdivision=*Copionodontinae

}}

File:F de Castelnau-poissonsPl24.jpg species]]

Trichomycteridae is a family of catfishes commonly known as pencil catfishes or parasitic catfishes. They are one of the few parasitic chordates. Another species is the life monsefuano (Trichomycterus punctulatus) which was important to the Moche culture and still an important part of Peruvian cuisine.Fondazioneslowfood: [http://www.fondazioneslowfood.com/en/ark-of-taste-slow-food/monsefu-life/ Life monsefuano.] Retrieved 28 April 2017.

This family is prohibited from being imported into various parts of the United States.{{FishBase family|family=Trichomycteridae|year=2007|month=July}}

Taxonomy

The Trichomycteridae comprise about 42 genera and 286 species described.{{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|access-date=2009-06-24|doi=10.11646/zootaxa.1418.1.1}} It is the second-most diverse family of the superfamily Loricarioidea.{{cite journal|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|author2=Landim, Maria Isabel|doi=10.1590/S1679-62252005000400002|doi-access=free}} Numerous species still remain undescribed, such as the human-biting candiru.{{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=25 May 2025}}

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|author2=de Pinna, Mario C. C.|doi=10.1643/CI-03-158R2|volume=2005|s2cid=85875502 |editor1-last=Armbruster|editor1-first=J. W.}} 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|author2=de Pinna, Mario César Cardoso|author3= Trajano, Eleonora|doi=10.1590/S1679-62252008000300002|url=http://www.producao.usp.br/bitstream/BDPI/12428/1/art_PINNA_A_new_species_of_Glaphyropoma_the_first_2008.pdf|doi-access=free}}

Subfamilies and genera include:

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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|access-date=2009-06-24|doi=10.1590/s0073-47212002000300004|doi-access=free}} 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|author2=Provenzano, Francisco|author3= de Pinna, Mario|author4= Baskin, Jonathan N.|journal=American Museum Novitates|issue=3496|pages=1–27|date=November 29, 2005|doi=10.1206/0003-0082(2005)496[0001:NANVGC]2.0.CO;2|s2cid=19506818 |access-date=2009-06-24}} 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|title-link=Fishes of the World}} The family extends from Panama southward to Chile and Argentina.

Description

The bodies of these fish are normally naked and elongated. The chin barbels are usually absent, nasal barbels are usually present, and there are usually two pairs of maxillary barbels. Most of these fish have no adipose fin, and some also lack pelvic fins.

Many trichomycterids are small enough to be considered "miniaturized" (do not exceed {{convert|2.6|cm|in|abbr=on}} 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 the 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|access-date=2009-06-24}}

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 and Tridensimilis of Tridentinae 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 include 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 m (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 12 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|access-date=2009-06-24|doi=10.11646/zootaxa.1541.1.5}} 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|doi=10.1590/S1679-62252008000300003|doi-access=free}}

References

Category:Catfish families

Category:Catfish of South America

Category:Taxa named by Pieter Bleeker