Saturday, January 24, 2009

New Catfish Species Climbs Rocks

bagre

El Bagre

A previously unknown species of climbing catfish has been discovered in remote Venezuela, and its strange traits are shaking the evolutionary tree for these fish. The newfound catfish, Lithogenes wahari, shares traits with two different families of fish — Loricariidae (armored catfishes) and Astroblepidae (climbing catfishes). It has bony armor that protects its head and tail, and a grasping pelvic fin that helps it to climb vertical surfaces such as rocks. These characteristics in L. wahari suggest to ichthyologists Scott Schaefer of the American Museum of Natural History in New York and Francisco Provenzano of the Universidad Central de Venezuela ...
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