Saccodon wagneri

Saccodon wagneri

Saccodon wagneri has been described by Kner as early as 1863. They are part of the Parodontidae family or the Scrapetooths. This family has three genera and about 32 species.

Description

Saccodon wagneri can reach a total length of about 15 centimeters. The color is an inconspicuous brown / gray so that they do not stand out between the substrate. They have an elongated streamlined body with a relatively small head. The beak is subdued with the muzzle protruding beyond the beak.

This species has an adipose fin, the pectoral fins are large and fan-shaped. The caudal fin is forked. Most specimens have a dark spot on the top of the adipose fin.

Juveniles have a dark horizontal stripe that is crossed by eight to ten vertical bands. In older animals this pattern disappears slowly because the entire color darkens.

Saccodon wagneri is very similar to Saccodon terminalis. The species are easy to distinguish from each other by the position of the beak. In Saccodon wagneri it is sub terminal and in Saccodon terminalis it is terminal.

Diet

In the wild they mainly feed on algae. The teeth of this species are quite variable.

Biotope

South America. Saccodon wagneri inhabits the rivers along the coast of Ecuador and the northern coastal rivers of Peru. They occur in the basin of the Rio Guayas, Rio Caluma up to and including the Rio Santa Rosa.

They mainly inhabit the fast-flowing rivers with rocky bottoms.

The aquarium

As far as is known, this species is not kept in the aquarium.

Author

John de Lange

Copyright images

Ronald Navarrete-Amaya – CC BY-NC 4.0

References

Guída de Peces para aguas continentales en la vertiente occidental del Ecuador – blz. 82.
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