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Peter Petersen (1) Demian Lescano (2)

Abstract: Trachelyopterus lucenai (Siluriformes: Auchenipteridae) is an invasive fish in restinga of Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul State, southern Brazil. In April 2007 remains of T. lucenai were found in the stomach of an individual of Lontra longicaudis (neotropical Otter) which was run over near a pluvial channel in the restinga area. The present record contributes to the knowledge on otters predation on exotic/invasive species in aquatic environments (Porciuncula & Quintelaa 2010). Aquarium Care: Good addition to the larger community tank and will not harass other occupants as long as they are not too small to be eaten on this catfishes night time prowls. Provide hiding places for it. Diet: In the wild they feed on they seem to feed mainly on shrimps, insects, juvenile loricariid catfish and characins. In the aquarium they will eat most aquarium fare. Etymology: The genus name Trachelyopterus: meaning trachelos, neck; pterus, fin, presumably referring to the elevated nape of T. coriaceus, which gives the appearance that dorsal fin originates at the neck region. The specific name lucenai: in honour of Carlos Alberto Santos de Lucena, curator of fishes, Museu de Ciências e Tecnologia de Pontificia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (where second and third authors were students). Remarks: In the paper by Porciuncula & Quintelaa in 2010 this has been reported as an invasive species being introduced through artificial cannals and water transfer.

Southern Driftwood Catfish

None

Auchenipteridae

South America: Lowland tributaries of Uruguay River and Laguna dos Patos basins, Brazil. Type locality: Rio Jacuí at saco do Quilombo, ilha das Flores, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (approximately 29º58'S, 51º15'W).

16.5cm. (6½ins)

22-26°c (71-79°f.)

6.0-7.0.

Ferraris, C.J. Jr., 2003. Auchenipteridae (Driftwood catfishes). p. 470-482. In R.E. Reis, S.O. Kullander and C.J. Ferraris, Jr. (eds.) Checklist of the Freshwater Fishes of South and Central America. Porto Alegre: EDIPUCRS, Brasil.
Ferraris, C.J. Jr., 2007. Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types. Zootaxa 1418:1-628.
Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2020. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version (03/2020).
Petersen, Peter. ScotCat Facebook group. March 2021.
Rafael Almeida Porciuncula, Fernando Marques Quintelaa. Record of Invasive Black Catfish (Trachelyopterus lucenai) Predation by the Neotropical otter (Lontra longicaudis) IN RESTINGA OF RIO GRANDE, SOUTHERN BRAZIL.
The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database © Christopher Scharpf.