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Ivan Sazima (1) Diogo Luiz (1)

Habitat:: A. leptos is a demersal (living at or near the bottom of the water body) species that inhabits streams. Occurs in small coastal creeks and streams with submerged roots and vegetation debris. Etymology: The genus name Acentronichthys: a-, without and centron, thorn or spine, referring to spineless dorsal and pectoral fins; ichthys, fish. The specific name leptos: Fine or thin, referring to the extremely elongate body. Remarks: Assessed as Least Concern as this species has a fairly wide distribution and inhabits streams which are likely to be less vulnerable to threats such as pollution than surrounding rivers in the region. A contraction in the available habitat has occurred, though over previous decades. The lack of control of urbanisation in the distribution is likely to have led to a slow decline, though not one of a magnitude that triggers a threat category listing (IUCN 2009).

None

Heptapterus leptos

Heptapteridae

South America: Coastal streams from Rio de Janeiro to Santa Catarina State, and in São Mateus, in Espírito Santo State, Brazil. Type Locality: Sao Matheos [=São Mateus, State of Espírito Santo, Brazil].

11.0cm. TL (4½ins)

22-25°C (71-77°F)

6.0-7.5.

Bockmann, F.A. and G.M. Guazzelli, 2003. Heptapteridae (Heptapterids). p. 406-431. In R.E. Reis, S.O. Kullander and C.J. Ferraris, Jr. (eds.) Checklist of the Freshwater Fishes of South and Central America. Porto Alegre: EDIPUCRS, Brasil.
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. 2024. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, ( 07/2024 ).
Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBio). 2022. Acentronichthys leptos. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022.