Hirtella Carinata

📖 Overview

Inhabits small rivers and creeks. Collected at elevation from 200 to 796 m above sea level, in small headwater streams emptying into the lower portion of the Rio Pardo drainage. Found in clear water stretches of moderate to rapid water current, 1.0-5.0 meters wide, a few centimeters to one meter deep, and with bottoms of rocks, pebbles, organic debris, and usually small amounts of sand. Captured within, or near, the Serra Bonita Reserve Complex, a Private Natural Heritage Reserve (R.P.P.N.), which consists of a consortium of privately owned properties, approximately 7,500 hectares and represents one of the last remnants of moist submontane forest in the region. The area around the reserve is composed of approximately 50% primary forest and the rest is a mosaic of forests in advanced stages of recovery mixed with cabruca (cocoa trees planted under natural forest canopy) and small areas of pasture. This apparently indicates that this species inhabits streams in pristine or good condition. Occurs syntopically with other fish species including some unidentified or possibly undescribed species of Astyanax, Characidium, Geophagus, Hypostomus, and Trichomycterus .

🔬 Taxonomy

🐟 Physical Description

Dorsal spines (total): 1; Dorsal soft rays (total): 7; Anal soft rays: 6; Vertebrae: 28 - 29. Hirtella carinata is distinguished from all species belonging to the Loricariidae by its unique pattern of secondary sexual dimorphism consisting of bristle-like hypertrophied odontodes on the head and predorsal area and forming five longitudinal rows on the lateral plates of body in mature males. It differs also from all neoplecostomines and most loricariids by the anterior position of the pelvic fins, which originate on a vertical passing anterior to the nuchal plate and by having an elongate keel of 15-17 azygous plates along the mid-dorsal line between dorsal and caudal fins. It can be further separated from all neoplecostomines, with the exception of Neoplecostomus, by having a medium-sized palatine splint never reaching the anterior border of the nasal fossa .: elongated.

🌀 Behaviour

Behavioural data for Hirtella Carinata is currently being reviewed.

🦐 Diet

🥚 Reproduction

🌍 Habitat & Distribution

Freshwater; demersal. Tropical South America: lower Rio Pardo drainage, a coastal drainage in Bahia, Brazil.

🌿 Ecology

📐 Morphometrics

🌡️ Water Parameters & Tolerance

📊 Population Risk & Fisheries

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