Serrasalmus hastatus
| Serrasalmus hastatus | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Serrasalmus hastatus | ||||||||||||
| Fink and Machado-Allison , 2001 |
Serrasalmus hastatus is a species of saw tetra from tropical South America . The specific epithet is derived from the Latin hastatus , spear-shaped, and refers to the pointed and flattened mouth.
description
Living specimens
Serrasalmus hastatus reaches a standard length of 15 cm. The back profile is concave towards the eyes and slightly convex towards the base of the dorsal fin. The color is shiny silver with a bluish tinge. The vertical fins are transparent and pigmented as in the prepared specimens. The eye is silver-blue and pigmented dorsally and ventrally from the pupil in dark gray-blue.
The pectoral fins (pectorals) have 14–16, the dorsal fin (dorsal) 15–17 and the anal fin (anal) 31–34 rays. The species has 37–38 vertebrae, 7–8 abdominal teeth (Serrae) and 19–21 abdominal teeth in front of the pelvic fins.
Prepared specimens
As with many piranha species, the color is very variable. The basic color is golden brown, darker above the side line towards the back. On the sides the species has numerous elongated, narrow, short or longer stripes that tend towards the tail towards longer and darker. The paired fins are transparent, in some specimens the front rays of the pectoral fins are pigmented. The vertical fins are dark, in most specimens pigments form a diffuse distal band. The eyes are golden brown with a dark vertical band dorsal and ventral to the pupil.
distribution
S. hastatus is endemic to Brazil . The species lives in the Rio Branco and Rio Negro in Amazonia . The holotype comes from the Marara beach of the Rio Branco, paratypes from the same place and from the floodplain forest of Maguari (Rio Branco) and Anavilhanas (Rio Negro). Other habitats are the mouths of the Rio Branco, the Rio Uraricoera and the Rio Solimões near Manaus . The species occurs mainly in black and clear water rivers.
Way of life
S. hastatus occurs in similar biotopes as S. altuvei and S. compressus . It probably feeds on the fins of other fish species, among other things.
Systematics
S. hastatus is a newly discovered species of piranha that was only described in 2001 . Together with S. compressus, S. geryi, S. hollandi, S. marginatus, S. rhombeus and S. sanchezi, it forms a clade of closely related species and can easily be compared with Serrasalmus altuvei , S. compressus , S. altispinis , or S. geryi can be confused.
literature
- WL Fink, and A. Machado-Allison: Serrasalmus hastatus, a new species of piranha from Brazil, with comments on Serrasalmus altuvei and Serrasalmus compressus (Teleostei: Characiformes). In: Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, 2001, No. 730, pp. 1-18. ( Online ; PDF file; 1.44 MB)
Notes and individual references
- ^ Oregon Piranha Exotic Fish Exhibit: Serrasalmus hastatus
- ↑ N. Hubert, F. Duponchelle, J. Nunez, C. Garcia-Davila, D. Paugy & J.-F. Renno: Phylogeography of the piranha genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus: implications for the diversification of the Neotropical ichthyofauna. In: Molecular Ecology (2007) 16, 2115–2136, ( Online ; PDF file; 1.18 MB)
Web links
- Serrasalmus hastatus on Fishbase.org (English)