Corydoras from the Rio Jamanxim – C. bifasciatus?

25. September 2009

From the Rio Jamanxim in the state of Pará, Brazil, we received for the second time now beautiful Corydoras catfish.  The Rio Jamanxim is a tribute to the Rio Tapajós. The first shipment of corys from there contained only long snouted animals, whereas the second shipment contained the shortsnouted counterpart.

The new corys remind one to Corydoras ornatus, C. parallelus, C. pulcher, and C. schwartzi, as well as the  C-numbers C133 and C141. Like all of them they have a pattern of two bold black stripes, a black band through the eye and a golden shining saddlespot before the dorsal fin origin. However, C. ornatus, C. pulcher, C. schwartzi, and C141 have a black pattern in the caudal fin, whereas our new ones have hyaline caudals. C. parallelus as a black triangle-spot situated directly under the dorsal fin origin, which is not found in the Jamanxim fish.

Corydoras bifasciatus is not known until today alive. Preserved ones show a hyaline caudal fin and belong to the longsnouted group of Corydoras. The type locality of C. bifasciatus is in the upper Rio Tapajós system, so it is very likely that our fish from the first shipment really belong to the species C. bifasciatus. The shortnoses from our second shipment already have received the C-number C133. They belong to a species new to science.

Text & photos: Frank Schäfer

Lexicon: bifasciatus: means “with two stripes”. ornatus: means “splendid”; parallelus: allusion to the two black parallel stripes on the flanks; pulcher: means “beautiful”; schwartzi: in honour of Willy Schwartz, an exporter of ornamental fish.