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Ivan Mikolji (2) Gareth Savage (1) Andreas Zapata (1) Jorge Garcia (1) Kiruya Momochi (1)

Description: Body with eye-size or larger, dark spots at least on dorsal surface; caudal fin with dark pigmentation extending nearly to distal margin (río Orinoco, río Aroa, and río Yaracuy, Venezuela). Cetopsis orinoco can be distinguished from all of its congeners by the combination of the presence of an eye, the conical teeth on the vomer and dentary, the rounded posterior nares that is distinctly separated from the contralateral nares by a distance greater than the width of the posterior nares, the presence of a dark humeral spot, the lack of a pattern of dark pigmentation on the pectoral and pelvic fins other than for a thin, clear margin, the presence of dark pigmentation on the caudal fin, particularly on the distal portions of the fin, and the possession of 30 to 35 caudal vertebrae, 43 to 46 total vertebrae, 23 to 30 total anal-fin rays, and 19 to 24 branched anal-fin rays. Habitat: Occurs in the rivers of the eastern slope of the piedmont of the Cordillera Oriental and the southeastern slopes of the piedmont of the Cordillera of Merida in the Rio Orinoco basin of Colombia and Venezuela and in the Rio Aroa and Rio Yaracuy basins of the Caribbean Sea versant of northern Venezuela. Sexual Differences: Sexually active males will develope a thread-like extensison to there dorsal fin. Aquarium Care: Best to keep in a species only setup as they can be a bit nasty with other fish. Diet: Feeds on a variety of terrestrial and aquatic insects.

None

Pseudocetopsis plumbeus orinoco, Hemicetopsis plumbeus orinoco, Pseudocetopsis orinoco

Cetopsidae

South America: Orinoco River basin and Aroa and Yaracuy river basins of coastal Venezuela. Type locality: Río Torbes, 1 km. above Táriba, Orinoco system, Venezuela.

9.5cm. (3¾ins)

22-28°c (71-83°f )

6.0-7.0.

Ferraris, C.J. Jr., 2007. Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types. Zootaxa 1418:1-628.
Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2017. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, ( 02/2017 ).
Vari, R.P., C.J. Ferraris, Jr. and M.C.C. de Pinna 2005 The neotropical whale catfishes (Siluriformes: Cetopsidae: Cetopsinae), a revisionary study. Neotrop. Ichthyol. 3(2):127-238.