Rhamdia guatemalensis
Pale Catfish
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Siluriformes (Catfishes)
Heptapteridae (Three-Barbel Catfishes)
Rhamdia
Rhamdia guatemalensis (Pale Catfish)
Description
This species account was compiled from
FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2025. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version 04/2025.)
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Characters
Body shape: elongated. This species has the following characters: pigmented body; functional eyes; dorsal fin base 14.4-19.4% of SL; origin of adipose fin anterior to the anus; maxillary barbels extend beyond pelvic fin origin; adipose fin insertion closer to the dorsal fin than to the caudal fin; brown body with a distinct lateral longitudinal dark band (Ref. 108688).
Distribution
America: trans-Andean region of Colombia to southern Mexico.
Habitat Associations
Freshwater. benthopelagic.
Biology
This species occupies main channel of rivers and streams, either with turbid waters and high sediment loads or with transparent waters and few nutrients. It prefers pools and slow-flowing waters of different depths and has plant material deposits and heavy substrates such as rocks and stones which serve as shelter for this fish during the day (Ref. 108688).
Max length: 25.1 cm SL; max weight: 302 g.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2018-11-29. Resilience: Very low (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
References
Hernández, C.L., A. Ortega-Lara, G.C. Sánchez-Garcés, M.H. Alford (2015) Genetic and morphometric evidence for the recognition of several recently synonymized species of Trans-Andean Rhamdia (Pisces: Siluriformes: Heptapteridae). Copeia 103(3):563-579. DOI: 10.1643/CI-14-145
Rodríguez-Olarte, D., D.C. Taphorn and H. Agudelo-Zamora (2018) Length-weight relationships of fishes from western Caribbean freshwater drainages of Venezuela. J. Appl. Ichthyol. 2018:1-5.
Comments On Rhamdia guatemalensis