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Andreas Zapata (1) Mitsuhiro Iwamoto (2)

Description: Species of Acestridium Haseman, 1911 are highly distinctive, small sized, specialized loricariid catfishes, which have very narrow body, snout prolonged with a distinctive anterior spatulate projection, and usually green colour in life. Acestridium was diagnosed by Schaefer (1991) based on the following characters: ten principal caudal-fin rays; plates at anterior snout margin forming conspicuous spatulate projection; head and body very slender, depressed; dorsal surface of head and trunk with longitudinal ridges; dorsal fin placed posteriorly, well beyond pelvic fin and just anterior to anal-fin origin; adipose fin absent; dermal plates anterior to first dorsal-fin proximal radial expanded, bearing ventromedial keel contacting the dorsal margin of the neural arches of the vertebrae six through twelve; and ridge of bone on the ventral surface of the lateral ethmoid contacting the metapterygoid channel reflected mesially. Currently, seven species of Acestridium are described: A. discus Haseman, 1911, A. dichromum Retzer, Nico & Provenzano, 1999, A. martini Retzer, Nico & Provenzano, 1999. A. triplax, Rodriguez & Reis, 2007, A. gymnogaster Reis & Lehmann, 2009, A. scutatum Reis & Lehmann A., 2009, and A. colombiense Retzer, 2005. Aquarium Care: will need a fairly strong current in the aquarium. Not the easiest to care for so really a catfish for the more experienced Loricariid keeper, so would be better in a species tank on their own. Diet: Fine Vegetarian foods especially algae and small meaty foods such as brine shrimp nauplii. They rarely sit on the substrate but on leaf stalks and branches so they are especially difficult to feed. Etymology: The specific name martini: In honour of geologist Bethea Martin, Lago Petroleum Corporation, who aided Schultz in the collection of fishes in Venezuela.

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Loricariidae

South America: Upper Orinoco and Negro River basins, Venezuela. Type locality: Caño Pozo Azul, tributary of Río Orinoco, near Balneario Pozo Azul, 5º45'49"N, 67º29'21"W, Amazonas State, Venezuela, elev. 75 m.

6.5cm. (2½ins)

25-29°c (77-85°f.)

6.5-7.2.

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. 2022. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, ( 07/2022 ).
Salvador, G.N. 2023. Acestridium martini. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2023.
Schaefer, S.A., 2003. Loricariidae - Hypoptopomatinae (Armored catfishes). p. 321-329. 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.