Family Acestrorhynchidae - Smallscale pike characins
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Order |
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Class |
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Actinopterygii |
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No. in FishBase |
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Genera : 7 | Species : 26 Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes |
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Environment |
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Fresh : Yes |
Brackish : No |
Marine : No |
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Division |
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Primary freshwater |
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Remark |
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Fishes of this family are characterized by very elongate (pike-like) bodies covered with relatively small scales. All teeth are conical and strong canines are present on the premaxilla, anterior part of the maxilla and the dentary. Small conical teeth are present on the ectopterygoid and minute conical teeth have been detected on the mesopterygoid of some species. Other exclusive features of the group are: first infraorbital covering almost completely the maxilla whent the mouth is closed; a branch of the laterosensory canal on the premaxilla; and rhinosphenoid bone in close contact with parasphenoid. The anal fin is falcate, never bearing hooks in sexually mature males and the origin of the dorsal fin is much nearer to caudal base than the tip of the snout. See Menezes (1969), Menezes (1992), Menezes & Géry (1983), Toledo-Piza & Menezes (1996) and Lucena & Menezes (1998).
The single genus Acestrorhynchus is currently represented by 15 species ranging from about 35 to 400 mm in standard length.
Acestrorhynchid species are entirely confined to South America and the greatest species diversity occurs in the Amazon and Orinoco basins. Three species occur further south in the São Francisco, Paraná, Paraguay and La Plata drainages. They are found in a variety of habitats, but primarily live in lakes, lagoons, areas near shore, and the smallest species are especially found in small streams (igarapés) of the Amazon basin (personal observation and see also Britski et al., 1986). The peculiar dentition makes acestrorhynchid species very specialized predators among characiforms, most species feeding primarily on fishes. See Menezes, 1969a, Nico & Taphorn, 1985 and Amaral, 1990.
After the major revision of Acestrorhynchus and the description of some new species (Menezes & Gery, 1983; Toledo-Piza & Menezes, 1996) not many new species are expected to be found.
Acestrorhynchids are not commercially important as food fishes and two of the smallest species (A. nasutus and A. minimus) might be eventually found in aquarium shops. Suggested new common name for this family from Ref. 58418. |
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Etymology |
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Greek, akestra, as = needle + Greek, rhyngchos = jaw ( Ref. 45335). |
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Osteichthyes | Actinopterygii | Actinopteri | Neopterygii | Teleostei | Osteoglossocephalai | Clupeocephala | Otomorpha | Ostariophysi | Otophysa | Characiphysae | Characiformes | Characoidei | Acestrorhynchidae |
Important recommendation:
The list below must not be used as an authority reference synonymy list like those found in scientific published revisions, which must be the source to be used and cited eventually when they exist.
Rather, it reflects the current content of FishBase, and the progress with respect to synchronization with the Catalog of Fishes. However, we think it can be useful for users to assess the quality of information in FishBase, to start new work on the family, or to cross-check with other lists.
But we appreciate to be cited in publications when this list has been of any working value. In particular, for published scientific, we suggest then to cite it in the Material and Method section as a useful tool to conduct the research, but again, not as a taxonomic or nomenclatural authority reference.
Unless it is explicitly precised, the list is not complete, please search all original names published for the family in the Catalog of Fishes (genera, species), including those with uncertain or unknown status, that are not included in FishBase when they are not attached to a valid species.
This list uses some data from Catalog of Fishes (not shown but used to sort names).
In the column CofF, the digit indicates the status of synchronization with CofF: 0: Not checked; 1: Same status; 2: Different status; 3: Other combination; 4: Synonym in CofF; 5: Species/Subspecies issue; 6: Synonym of another species in CofF; 7: Not in CofF; 8: Should not be in CofF. The CofF version currently used is the one published on 23-07-2014 (Ref. 97102).
The list ordered as follows:
Please send comments and corrections if you detect errors or missing names.
Scientifc name | Status | Senior/Junior synonym | Combination | CofF |
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Acestrorhynchinae | ||||
Acestrorhynchus falcatus (Bloch, 1794) | accepted | senior | new | |
Salmo falcatus Bloch, 1794 | synonym | senior | original | 2 |
Salmo pulverulentus Linnaeus, 1758 | synonym | junior | original | 2 |
Xiphorhamphus ferox Günther, 1863 | synonym | junior | original | 2 |
Acestrorhynchus falcirostris (Cuvier, 1819) | accepted | senior | new | |
Hydrocyon falcirostris Cuvier, 1819 | synonym | senior | original | 2 |
Xiphoramphus falcirostris (Cuvier, 1819) | synonym | senior | new | |
Xiphorhynchus falcirostris (Cuvier, 1819) | synonym | senior | new | |
Acestrorhynchus microlepis (Jardine, 1841) | accepted | senior | new | |
Hydrocyon microlepis Jardine, 1841 | synonym | senior | original | 2 |
! Acestorhynchus microlepis (Jardine, 1841) | synonym | senior | new | |
Acestrorhynchus cachorro Fowler, 1940 | synonym | junior | original | 2 |
Acestrorhynchus guianensis Menezes, 1969 | synonym | junior | original | 2 |
Acestrorhynchus apurensis Toledo-Piza & Menezes, 1996 | synonym | junior | original | 2 |
Acestrorhynchus lacustris (Lütken, 1875) | accepted | senior | new | |
Xiphorhamphus lacustris Lütken, 1875 | synonym | senior | original | 2 |
Acestrorhynchus abbreviatus (Cope, 1878) | accepted | senior | new | |
Xiphorhamphus abbreviatus Cope, 1878 | synonym | senior | original | 2 |
Acestrorhynchus heterolepis (Cope, 1878) | accepted | senior | new | |
Xiphorhamphus heterolepis Cope, 1878 | synonym | senior | original | 2 |
Acestrorhynchus nasutus Eigenmann, 1912 | accepted | senior | original | 2 |
Acestrorhynchus altus Menezes, 1969 | accepted | senior | original | 2 |
Acestrorhynchus britskii Menezes, 1969 | accepted | senior | original | 2 |
Acestrorhynchus minimus Menezes, 1969 | accepted | senior | original | 2 |
Acestrorhynchus grandoculis Menezes & Géry, 1983 | accepted | senior | original | 2 |
Acestrorhynchus isalineae Menezes & Géry, 1983 | accepted | senior | original | 2 |
Acestrorhynchus maculipinna Menezes & Géry, 1983 | accepted | senior | original | 2 |
Acestrorhynchus pantaneiro Menezes, 1992 | accepted | senior | original | 2 |
Heterocharacinae | ||||
Heterocharax macrolepis Eigenmann, 1912 | accepted | senior | original | 2 |
Heterocharax leptogrammus Toledo-Piza, 2000 | accepted | senior | original | 2 |
Heterocharax virgulatus Toledo-Piza, 2000 | accepted | senior | original | 2 |
Gnathocharax steindachneri Fowler, 1913 | accepted | senior | original | 2 |
Lonchogenys ilisha Myers, 1927 | accepted | senior | original | 2 |
Hoplocharax goethei Géry, 1966 | accepted | senior | original | 2 |
Roestinae | ||||
Roestes molossus (Kner, 1858) | accepted | senior | new | |
Cynopotamus molossus Kner, 1858 | synonym | senior | original | 2 |
Roestes ogilviei (Fowler, 1914) | accepted | senior | new | |
Xiphocharax ogilviei Fowler, 1914 | synonym | senior | original | 2 |
Roestes itupiranga Menezes & Lucena, 1998 | accepted | senior | original | 2 |
Gilbertolus alatus (Steindachner, 1878) | accepted | senior | new | |
Anacyrtus alatus Steindachner, 1878 | synonym | senior | original | 2 |
Gilbertolus atratoensis Schultz, 1943 | accepted | senior | change in rank | |
Gilbertolus alatus atratoensis Schultz, 1943 | synonym | senior | original | 1 |
Gilbertolus maracaiboensis Schultz, 1943 | accepted | senior | change in rank | |
Gilbertolus alatus maracaiboensis Schultz, 1943 | synonym | senior | original | 1 |