SCOTCAT.COM

your internet guide to all things catfish

FACTSHEETS: May 2022 - no. 311

Rineloricaria eigenmanni (Pellegrin, 1908)

he Rineloricaria genera is by far the most speciose in Loricariinae, and is widely distributed on nearly the entire subcontinent, from Costa Rica to Argentina, on both slopes of the Andes. The species inhabit an extremely diverse array of environments. Our factsheet of the month for May 2022 concentrates on one member of this genus, the "Common Whiptail Catfish", Rineloricaria eigenmanni.

Rineloricaria eigenmanni

Rineloricaria eigenmanni

The type species for this genera is Rineloricaria lima Kner, 1853. The holotype from Brazil was probably lost according to Natterer (Isbrücker, 1979). If the loss of the holotype of R. lima is confirmed, a neotype must be designated in order to permit all the necessary clarifications for a detailed and much needed revision of this genus. The characters given by Kner (1853), although very detailed, are valid for almost all congeneric species. Without the type locality, it is presently impossible to decide which species represents R. lima (Covain, Raphael & Fisch-Muller, Sonia. 2007).

Rineloricaria eigenmanni - ventral view

Rineloricaria eigenmanni - ventral view showing the black bands

Rineloricaria eigenmanni - head view female


Distrbution: Orinoco River basin: Venezuela and Colombia. Type locality: Sarare.
Identifying species from this genera is really quite challenging and are sold often in aquarist stores and auctions as Rineloricaria species. You may never find out what the true specific name is but if you can find out where they originated from, such as Colombia or Venezuela, you may have R. eigenmanni and of course the black banding continuing on the ventral surface would also point to this species. Below we have location markers for most of the Rineloricaria species that we often see in the hobby. At the time of this factsheet (May 2022) there are 63 species of Rineloricaria described.
Species	Location
Rinelolricaria beni	Beni River basin, Bolivia.
Rineloricaria eigenmanni	Orinoco River basin: Venezuela and Colombia.
Rineloricaria fallax	Upper Rupununi and Branco River basins: Brazil and Guyana.
Rineloricaria formosa	Western Orinoco and upper Amazon River basins: Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela.
Rineloricaria hasemani	Lower Amazon or Tocantins River basin, Brazil.
Rineloricaria lanceolata	Amazon River basin (Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Guyana, Colombia and Brazil).
*Rineloricaria latirostris*	Upper Paraná River basin (Brazil).
Rineloricaria melini	Amazon River basin, Brazil.
*Rineloricaria microlepidogaster*	Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil.
Rineloricaria morrowi	Peru and Ecuador.
*Rineloricaria parva***	Paraguay River basin: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia and Uruguay.
Rineloricaria platyura	Coastal rivers from near Amazon mouth to Essequibo River: Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana; ? Venezuela.
*Rineloricaria stewarti*	Coastal rivers of the Guianas and upper Branco River basin: French Guiana, Guyana and Suriname.
Rineloricaria teffeana	Amazon River basin, Brazil.
Rineloricaria wolfei	Ucayali River basin, Peru.

Common Name

Common Whiptail

Synonyms

Loricaria eigenmanni, Hemiloricaria eigenmanni

Family

Loricariidae

Subfamily

Loricariinae

Distribution

South America: Orinoco River basin: Venezuela and Colombia.Type locality: Sarare.

Size

13.0cm. (5ins)

Temp.

25-27°c (77-81°f)

p.H.

6.0-7.0.

Characteristics

Slender body with no rostrum. A postorbital notch is present. All dermal ossificatations including scutes, fin spines and rays are covered with odontodes, the body ridges being covered by somewhat more prominent odontodes. The abdomen is covered with a few scutes in front of the anal opening, covered with numerous scutes on the posterior half, or completely covered with several series of small pitelets. The upper lip is narrow, the edge with short , rounded papillae. A short rictal barbel is present. The strongly bifid teeth are present in both jaws, those of the upper jaw smaller than those in the lower. The dorsal fin is located opposite or nearly opposite the origin of the ventral fins and has a spine and 6 (rarely 5) rays. The anal fin has a spine and 4 rays.

Colouration

Varies considerably from light to dark brown with 5 to 6 black bars starting at the insertion of the dorsal fin. These black bars continue on the ventral surface. All fins have black bars and the top of the head will sometimes sport a reticulated pattern with further spots on the snout.

Aquarium Care & Compatibility

An easy species to keep with no excessive demands on water parameters. Provide a sand substrate with hiding places such as pipes and driftwood.

Reproduction

Rineloricaria are cavity brooders laying numerous green eggs (often more than 100) that are laid attached to one another in single layer masses in pipes, and are brooded by males. Provide caves or pipe work where the females will lay their eggs as in the wild they are laid in hollow logs or branches. The male takes over the guarding of the green coloured eggs and they hatch, depending on water temperature, between 3 and 10 days.

Sexual differences

Males show strong secondary sexual dimorphism and develop ‘bristles’ along sides of snout, usually also on dorsum of pectoral fin spine and rays, and often dorsum of head, on post-occipital and predorsal scutes. (Isbrücker & Nijssen 1976a: pp. 110–111).

Diet

Omnivore. Vegetable food such as cucumber and other various foods such as tablet, flake and frozen.

Glossary of Terms

Anal fin: The median, unpaired, ventrally located fin that lies behind the anus, usually on the posterior half of the fish.
Dorsal: The primary rayed fin(s) on top of the body.
Odontodes: Hair - like stuctures on the body.
Papilla: A small fleshy projection, plural papillae.
Pectoral fins: The paired fins just behind the head.
Rictal barbel: Pertaining to the barbels on the corners of the mouth.
Rostrum: Snout (usually applied to long snouts).
Scutes: Bony covering.
Ventral fins: The paired fins, between the pectorals and the anal fins.

Etymology

Rineloricaria: Rhine = file; loricara = harness.
eigenmanni: In honour of Dr.Carl H.Eigenmann, Professor of Ichthyology in Indiana (1863-1927).

References

Burgess, W.E., 1989. An atlas of freshwater and marine catfishes. A preliminary survey of the Siluriformes. T.F.H. Publications, Inc., Neptune City, New Jersey (USA). 784 p.
Covain, Raphael & Fisch-Muller, Sonia. 2007. The genera of the Neotropical armored catfish subfamily Loricariinae (Siluriformes: Loricariidae): a practical key and synopsis. Zootaxa 1462: 1–40 (2007).
Ferraris, C.J. Jr., 2003. Loricariidae - Loricariinae (Armored catfishes). p. 330-350. 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.
Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2019. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, ( 08/2019 ).

Photo Credits

If you would like to contribute to the monthly factsheets with an article, information or photos, please e-mail me. You will of course be credited for your work.

If you would like to donate any denomination of money to the site just click the above link button. All proceeds will go to running the site and hopefully to keep it going for a few years yet.

ScotCat Sources

Etymology-genera