Widely-distributed throughout the Amazon, Orinoco, Essequibo, and Tocantins river systems in Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, and Guyana.

Type locality is ‘Rio Cupai [= Rio Cupari], Rio Tapajós basin, Amazon River drainage, Pará State, Brazil’.

Both species also possesses a broader dark midlateral stripe on the body which tends to be more well-defined in B. lateristriga than in B. maculata.

Colour pattern in B. maculata varies considerably with some specimens noticeably paler than others, for example, and the the broad midlateral stripe usually less intense in such individuals.

This does not app…

It’s known by various vernacular names including ‘Pirá-pacu’, ‘Pira-pucu’ or ‘Diente de cao’ (central Amazon), ‘Bicuda’ or ‘Uena’ (rio Tocantins), ‘Bicuda’ (rio Tapajós), ‘Aguejeta’ or ‘Picua’ (Venezuela), and ‘Moruwi’ or ‘Pirapoko’ (Guyana).

The entire dorsal-fin base is located anteriorly to a vertical through the anal-fin origin and this character distinguishes it from all other ctenolucids except B. lucius and B. xyrekes.

This species is not often available and is much sought after in the aquarium hobby where it’s been traded as ‘crystal rainbow tetra’ and ‘orange-tailed glass tetra’.

It’s also been referred to as a Heterocharax or Tyttocharax species in the past.

It’s currently the only member of its genus which is separated fr…

This species is sometimes traded as C. sp. ‘red line’, ‘spotted tetra’ or as its congener C. nigrofasciata.

In the past it’s name was also widely applied to the fish now identified as C. callolepis and C. meinkeni, and this misidentification continues to an extent although the two are easily-distinguished by the fact that C. nattereri is the only one of the three possessing a dark lateral stripe on each side of the body.

Known from the middle and upper Amazon river basins in Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia.

Type locality is ‘Amazon River at Obidos, Cudajas, and Tabatinga; Rio Negro, Brazil.’

It apparently practises an interesting reproductive strategy in which the eggs are deposited in a shallow depression excavated from the substrate and guarded by the male.

Known only from Loreto region in northeastern (Amazonian) Peru.

Type locality is ‘Río Pintuyacu, 48 kilometers on road from Iquitos to Nauta, Río Itaya drainage, Province Loreto, Peru’ and it’s also been recorded from tributaries of the Nanay system in the same area.

An additional population is known from the Río Tapiche, a tributary of the Río Ucayali located well over 150 km further south.

This species is a member of the putative A. nasutus group of closely-related species within the genus alongside A. nasutus, A. maculipinna and A. isalineae.

These are characterised by possession of two dark, longitudinal stripes, one running from the tip of the snout to the base and the other from the posterior edge of the lower maxilla to the underside of the caudal peduncle.

This species, which may also be referred to by the alternative vernacular names 'spiny catfish', 'painted talking catfish' or 'chocolate raphael', isn't particularly common in the trade and most often exported only as bycatch among shipments of Platydoras armatulus. It appears very similar to A. cataphractus with the most useful external distinguishing character being the presence of pale blotches on the dorsal surface, between the dorsal and caudal fins, in….