Hypopomidae - Brachyhypopomus palenque Crampton, de Santana, Waddell, and Lovejoy (2016) |
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| SOURCE FOR OCCURRENCE IN ECUADOR: Crampton et al. (2016). |
| ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION: Crampton, W.G.R., C.D. de Santana, J.C. Waddell, and N.R. Lovejoy. 2016. A taxonomic revision of the Neotropical electric fish genus Brachyhypopomus (Ostariophysi: Gymnotiformes: Hypopomidae), with descriptions of 15 new species. Neotropical Ichthyology 14(4):e150146, DOI: 10.1590/1982-0224-20150146. |
| TYPE SPECIMENS: UF-180270 (University of Florida). |
| TAXONOMIC STATUS: Valid (Crampton et al., 2016). Formerly identified as B. occidentalis. |
| RANGE ECUADOR: Reported from the Esmeraldas and Santiago rivers in northwestern Ecuador, the Guayas River, and the Siete River, a small river draining into the Gulf of Guayaquil (Crampton et al., 2016). |
| RANGE OUTSIDE OF ECUADOR: None. |
| COLLECTIONS IN ECUADOR: This is a relatively common species so there are many records from Ecuador including in the USNM, FU, SU, ROM, FMNH, CAS, KU, etc., although they may appear under B. occidentalis. See Crampton et al. (2016) for details. |
| MAXIMUM SIZE: Reported to 203 mm TL (Crampton et al., 2016). |
| DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: This is the only species in the genus presently recognized in western Ecuador. It can be distinguished from congeners based on the following combination of characters from Crampton et al. (2016): Caudal filament length 7.4-14.0% LEA, vs. 14.1-83.1% in B. alberti, B. batesi, B. benjamini, B. brevirostris, B. bullocki, B. cunia, B. draco, B. gauderio, B. hamiltoni, B. hendersoni, B. janeiroensis, B. jureiae, B. menezesi, B. pinnicaudatus, B. provenzanoi, B. sullivani, and B. walteri; absence of a pale stripe along the middorsal region, vs. presence of a prominent pale uninterrupted middorsal stripe from the occipital region to the base of the caudal filament in B. arrayae, B. beebei, and B. belindae; mouth width 25.1-37.8% HL, vs. 15.9-23.2% in B. bennetti and B. flavipomus; absence of accessory electric organ over the opercular region, vs. presence in B. bombilla and B. regani; precaudal vertebrae 19-22, vs. 24-26 in B. verdii. |
| ECOLOGY: Reported to occur in small streams in protected secondary forest where the substrate consists of clay, pebbles, rocks up to about 30 cm in diameter, leaf litter, and decaying logs (Crampton et al., 2016). Crampton et al. (2016) reported collecting specimens in leaf litter or submerged root mats that were located up against or under logs or large rocks. Stomach contents from specimens in the Type series collected at the Rio Palenque Biological Station primarily consisted of aquatic invertebrates, especially chironomid and beetle larvae (Crampton et al., 2016). |
| ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE: Not of direct economic value as a food fish because of its small size (Jimenez et al., 2015). |
| CONSERVATION STATUS: This species appears to be relatively common in western Ecuador based on its frequent appearance in collections conducted throughout the region. |
| LINK TO FISHBASE PAGE: NA. |
| SPECIES PROFILE CREATED BY: Windsor Aguirre |
| SPECIES PROFILE CONTRIBUTORS: None. |
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