| SOURCE FOR OCCURRENCE IN ECUADOR: Barriga (2012) and Jimenez-Prado et al. (2015). |
| ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION: Meek, S.E. and S.F. Hildebrand. 1912. Descriptions of new fishes from Panama. Field Museum of Natural History, Publications, Zoölogical Series v. 10 (no. 6):67-68. |
| TYPE SPECIMENS: |
| TAXONOMIC STATUS: Valid (Eschmeyer and Fricke, 2020). |
| RANGE ECUADOR: Reported for Santiago-Cayapas, Esmeraldas, and Guayas drainages (Jimenez-Prado et al., 2015). |
| RANGE OUTSIDE OF ECUADOR: From Mexico to Ecuador (Eschmeyer and Fricke, 2020). |
| COLLECTIONS IN ECUADOR: |
| MAXIMUM SIZE: 120mm TL (Froese and Pauly, 2020). |
| DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: This is a small eleotrid with two dorsal fins and anteriorly positioned pelvic fins under the pectoral fins. It can be distinguished from other freshwater fishes by the presence of a horizontal black band that extends from the tip of the snout to the start of the caudal fin. |
| ECOLOGY: Lives among vegetation and submerged branches in low elevation areas, and may prefer areas where tributaries meet large rivers (Jimenez-Prado et al., 2015). Described as an omnivore that commonly feeds on aquatic insects (Jimenez-Prado et al., 2015). |
| ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE: Not important as a food fish because of its small size. |
| CONSERVATION STATUS: Widely distributed in Central and South America. Status in Ecuador is unknown although it has been described as abundant in the Santiago-Cayapas drainage basin (Jimenez-Prado et al., 2015). |
| LINK TO FISHBASE PAGE: Click here for link |
| SPECIES PROFILE CREATED BY: Windsor Aguirre |
| SPECIES PROFILE CONTRIBUTORS: NA |
