Designed by Paul Smith 2006. This website is copyrighted by law. Material contained herewith may not be used without the prior written permission of FAUNA Paraguay. Photographs on this web-site were taken by Paul Smith, Hemme Batjes, Regis Nossent,
Alberto Esquivel, Arne Lesterhuis, Rebbeca Zarza, José Luis Cartes and Hugo del Castillo and are used with their permission.
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FIGURE 1 - Hypostomus commersoni - PROCOSARA, PN San Rafael (Paul Smith March 2007 - ECOSARA Biodiversity Database).
FIGURE 2 - Same individual ventral - PROCOSARA, PN San Rafael (Paul Smith March 2007- ECOSARA Biodiversity Database).
FIGURE 3 - Hypostomus sp. - Fuerte Olimpo, Departamento Alto Paraguay (Paul Smith September 2006).
FIGURE 4 - Rineloricaria misionera - PROCOSARA, PN San Rafael (Paul Smith May 2008- ECOSARA Biodiversity Database).
LORICARIIDAE - SUCKERMOUTH CATFISH
Commonly known as Cascudos or Viejas del Agua (Old Lady of the Water) the suckermouth catfish are a prehistoric-looking group of bottom-feeding catfish which do indeed have a sucker for a mouth! There are over 600 species distributed in the waterways of Central and South America and though they may look distinctive to the untrained eye, identification to species level can often be problematic!
