‘Rare’ striped creature — found in Amazon rivers — is a new species in Brazil. See it
In the vast network of streams and trees and mountainous forest that make up the Amazon rainforest, many creatures could be lurking in the dark, never discovered.
They may be hidden under massive leaves or buried in the mud surrounding seasonal ponds.
Or, in some cases, animals unknown to science move through the small tributary rivers of the jungle.
One of these river creatures has just been discovered — and it’s already rare.
Trichomycterus (Paracambeva) antiquus, a new species of catfish, was discovered in a “small stream tributary of the Rio Santa Bárbara,” according to a study published June 11 in the journal Zoosystematics and Evolution.
Less than 3 inches long, the fish has a “relatively deep” body and a trapezoidal head with small eyes, according to the study.
The fish’s teeth are “pointed” and “irregularly arranged,” researchers said.
The catfish looks relatively plain, except for a dark gray stripe that runs along the length of its body and a few small spots near its back fin, according to the study.
The color is similar to other known species, researchers said, but when a genetic profile for the species was conducted, something stood out.
Using DNA, researchers are able to connect a specimen to other species based on how similar the genetic material is. If they are more similar, they likely had a shared ancestry in the recent past. If their DNA is vastly different they may have deviated from known species a long time ago.
For this catfish, researchers found that it had deviated from the genetic line much earlier than other species. While other catfish found in the Amazon split from one another in the Pliocene, 5.3 million to 2.6 million years ago, this catfish deviated during the Miocene, anywhere from 23 millionto 5.3 million years ago, according to the study.
This geological difference earned the species its name “antiquus,” coming from the Latin word for antique, or old, researchers said.
This particular catfish is also considered to be a rare species despite only just being discovered.
Over multiple expeditions to the area, only four of the fish were ever found, researchers said.
The Rio Santa Bárbara runs through southeastern Brazil, just north of Rio de Janeiro.
