Paravandellia oxyptera Miranda Ribeiro, 1912

Pantanal parasitic catfish

Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | ITIS | CoL

Classification	Actinopterygii \| Siluriformes \| Trichomycteridae
Synonyms	Branchioica bertoni, Branchioica bertonii, Parabranchioica teaguei, ... more
Common names	Chupa-chupa, Sumbichuga, 居鳃鲶, ... more

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Image of Paravandellia oxyptera (Pantanal parasitic catfish)

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Main reference

Burgess, W.E. 1989. (Ref. 6868)
Other references | Biblio | Coordinator : Pinna, Mário de | Collaborators

Size / Weight / Age

Max length : 2.8 cm NG male/unsexed; (Ref. 39970)

Environment

Benthopelagic; freshwater

Climate / Range

Tropical

South America: Paraná, Paraguay and Uruguay River basins.
Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Introductions

Found to exhibit parasitic traits (Ref. 6868). Inhabits rivers with sandy to muddy bottom. Forages both during the day and at night seeks the gill chambers of larger fishes, especially catfishes. Enters and leaves the gill chamber during the host's ventilating movements: feeds on blood drawn from the gill filaments and may stay in the gill chamber for 1-3 min; when gorged with blood, moves to the bottom and buries itself in the sand. A single large catfish tethered on the river bank may feed thousand of these parasitic catfish over a period of up to 6 hours. Two females, 1.8 cm TL, caught in January (wet season) had about 150 mature oocytes each, and one male 2.0 cm TL had well-developed testes. Large numbers of this fish may kill fishes tethered by fishermen (Ref. 40386).


IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 57073)	Threat to humans
Not Evaluated	Harmless

Human uses


More information
Countries FAO areas Ecosystems Occurrences Introductions Ecology Diet Food items Food consumption Ration	Common names Synonyms Metabolism Predators Ecotoxicology Reproduction Maturity Spawning Eggs Egg development	Age/Size Growth Length-weight Length-length Length-frequencies Morphometrics Morphology Larvae Larval dynamics Recruitment	Other references Biblio Aquaculture Aquaculture profile Strains Genetics Allele frequencies Heritability Diseases Processing	Collaborators Pictures Stamps Sounds Ciguatera Speed Swim. type Gill area Otoliths Brains Vision

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Internet sources

Estimation of some characteristics with mathematical models

Resilience (Ref. 69278)


Vulnerability (Ref. 59153)	Price category (Ref. 80766)
Low vulnerability (10 of 100)	Not marketed/unknown

Entered by Sa-a, Pascualita

Modified by Torres, Armi G.

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Page last modified by : elaxamana, 15 July 2009

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