Tucan fish
| Tucan fish | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Characiformes |
| Family: | Chalceidae |
| Genus: | Chalceus |
| Species: | C. erythrurus
|
| Binomial name | |
| Chalceus erythrurus Cope, 1870
| |
The tucan fish (Chalceus erythrurus),[1][2] also called the yellowfin chalceus,[3][4] is a species of freshwater fish in the family Chalceidae. It is one of five species in the genus Chalceus, and was the second species to be described therein.
Description[edit]
The tucan fish has a pale-silver body, with bright-yellow ventral fins (hence its other common name); the rest of its fins are some mixture of yellow and red, usually with a reddish tail fin.[5] In terms of size, it reaches 21.4 cm SL.[1] This makes it one of the larger members of the genus Chalceus, outsized only by the pinktail chalceus.
Etymology[edit]
The name "tucan fish" directly translates to "toucan fish", as "tucán" means toucan in Spanish.[6] All members of the family Chalceidae are sometimes referred to as tucanfishes, but C. erythrurus is the species to which it is most often applied.[7]
The genus name Chalceus is Greek, and means brass or copper.[1] The specific name erythrurus also originates in Greek, with "eruthros" meaning red and "ouros" meaning tail in reference to its caudal fin usually being reddish.[8]
Taxonomy[edit]
Upon being described by Edward Drinker Cope in the year 1870, the tucan fish was placed in the new genus Plethodectes with the full name Plethodectes erythrurus.[9] However, Cope switched it over to the genus Chalceus in the year 1872.[10]
It was briefly classified as Chalceus macrolepidotus iquitensis, a subspecies of the pinktail chalceus C. macrolepidotus, by Shoji Nakashima in 1941.[11] Henry Watson Fowler described it as Pellegrinina heterolepis in 1907, but Jacques Géry proved it to be a member of the Chalceus genus in 1977.[12][13]
The name Chalceus erythrurus was once mistakenly applied to C. macrolepidotus, and they are sometimes confused with one another.[14] They can be told apart because of the tucan fish's bright-yellow ventral fins, as well as a few other coloration patterns.[5]
Habitat[edit]
The tucan fish can be found in the Amazon and Solimões rivers, and its habitat extends into Peru by way of the Ucayali river.[1][13]
Diet and behavior[edit]
Like others in the genus Chalceus, the tucan fish is primarily a carnivore, targeting aquatic invertebrates (such as insects and crustaceans).[15] It is known to be somewhat skittish, and may jump out of the water on occasion.[3]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2021). "Chalceus erythrurus" in FishBase. December 2021 version.
- ^ "ADW: Chalceus erythrurus: CLASSIFICATION". animaldiversity.org. Retrieved 2021-12-25.
- ^ a b "Yellowfin Chalceus (Chalceus erythrurus)". Aqua-Imports. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
- ^ Waller, Sara. "Yellow Fin Chalceus (Chalceus erythrurus)". Aquarium Life Support Systems. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
- ^ a b "Chalceus, Cuvier, 1817". Plazi TreatmentBank. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
- ^ "Translation of tucán – Spanish-English dictionary". Cambridge Dictionary. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
- ^ Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2021). "Chalceidae" in FishBase. December 2021 version.
- ^ Scharpf, Christopher; Lazara, Kenneth J. (15 September 2020). "Order CHARACIFORMES: Families IGUANODECTIDAE, TRIPORTHEIDAE, BRYCONIDAE, CHALCEIDAE and GASTEROPELECIDAE". The ETYFish Project. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
- ^ Cope, Edward Drinker (1870). "Contribution to the Ichthyology of the Maranon". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 11 (81): 563–564. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
- ^ Cope, Edward Drinker (1872). "On the fishes of the Ambyiacu River". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 23: 262. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
- ^ Nakashima, Shoji (1941). "Algunos peces del Oriente perauno" (PDF). Boletin de Museo Historia Natural "Javier Prado". 16: 62–63. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
- ^ Fowler, Henry Weed (1906). "Further Knowledge of some Heterognathous Fishes". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 58: 442–444. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
- ^ a b Zanata, A.M.; M. Toledo-Piza (2004). "Taxonomic revision of the South American fish genus Chalceus Cuvier (Teleostei: Ostariophysi: Characiformes) with the description of three new species". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 140 (11): 103–135. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2004.00090.x.
- ^ "Pink-tailed Characin". Tropical Freshwater Fish. Mongabay. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
- ^ "Chalceus erythrurus (Tucanfish)". Seriously Fish. Retrieved 26 December 2021.