Habitat:
This species is endemic to Ecuador where it occurs
in the Mira, Esmeraldas, Guayas and El Oro River basins
(Barriga 2012; Ferraris 2007). Diet:
This is a benthonic fish that inhabit in a substrates
of sand and/or small rocks. Their diet is based on
detritus and insects. Etymology:
The genus name Transancistrus: trans (L.),
over or beyond, referring to distribution of genus
across rivers draining Pacific slope of the Andes
Mountains in Ecuador; ancistrus, a root name for many
hypostomine genera that have clusters of enlarged
evertible cheek odontodes, from ágkistron (Gr.
äyklotpov) fishhook or hook of a spindle.The
specific name aequinoctialis: Latin for equinoctial
(but here apparently meaning equatorial), referring
to its type locality just 13’ south of the equator
in Ecuador. Remarks:
This species is listed as Least Concern because it
is widely distributed, is common and there are no
major threats affecting it (IUCN 2014).
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