Described from coastal drainages
of northeastern Brazil (Pindaré to Parnaíba
rivers). Description: diagnosed from
congeners by the unique combination of: pale yellow
to white stripe beginning above orbits, continuing
midlaterally on body and onto middle rays of caudal
fin; skin in axil of each midlateral thorn without
concentration of pigment forming small dark spot,
midlateral scutes shallow (depth of 10th scute 8.8-11.9%
of SL), and midlateral scutes on caudal peduncle distinctly
separated by strip of skin from middorsal and midventral
caudal-peduncle plates. Three additional species of
Platydoras are recognized as valid: P.
armatulus (lower
Orinoco, Amazon and Paraguay-Paraná drainages),
P.
costatus (coastal drainages of Suriname
and French Guiana), and P.
hancockii (upper Orinoco, Negro, Essequibo
and Demerara drainages). The nominal species P.
dentatus and P. helicophilus are tentatively
treated as junior synonyms of P. costatus (Piorski
et al 2008). Aquarium Care:
This is a fairly easy catfish to keep as long as you
can provide it with shelter such as pipes or cave
work. It will even jam itself into the pipe with its
pectoral spines and will be unremovable. Would need
moving water and large stones to hide, replicating
its natural habitat. Diet: Easy to
feed on frozen food such as bloodworm, tablet and
pellet foods. In youngsters it is better to feed at
night after lights out, the older they get they will
get bolder and come out at feeding time.
Common
Name:
None
Synonyms:
None
Family:
Doradidae
Distribution:
South America:
Rio Mearim, Rio Pindaré, Rio Itapecuru and
Rio Parnaíba basins in northeastern Brazil.
Size:
21.5cm. (8½ins)
Temp:
25-30°C (77-87°F)
p.H.
6.0-7.5.
Reference:
Froese, R. and D. Pauly.
Editors. 2018. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic
publication. www.fishbase.org, ( 02/2018 ). Piorski, N.M.,
J.C. Garavello, Arce H.M. and M.H. Sabaj Pérez,
2008. Platydoras brachylecis, a new species
of thorny catfish (Siluriformes: Doradidae) from northeastern
Brazil. Neotrop. Ichthyol. 6(3):481-494. Vieira LO, Campos DS, Oliveira RF, South J,
Coelho MS.P, Paiva MJ.S, Bragança PH.N, Guimarães
EC, Katz AM, Brito PS, Santos JP, Ottoni FP
(2023) Checklist of the fish fauna of the Munim River
Basin, Maranhão, north-eastern Brazil. Biodiversity
Data Journal 11: e98632.
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