Curimatidae
| Curimatidae Temporal range:
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| Cyphocharax voga | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Characiformes |
| Superfamily: | Erythrinoidea |
| Family: | Curimatidae Gill, 1858 |
| Genera | |
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The Curimatidae, toothless characins, are a family of freshwater fishes, of the order Characiformes. They originate from southern Costa Rica to northern Argentina. The family has around 105 species, many of them frequently exploited for human consumption. They are closely related to the Prochilodontidae.
This family lacks jaw teeth, although they do sometimes have small teeth on their pharyngeal plates. They eat films of slime coating underwater surfaces, which consist largely of algae, zooplankton and detritus.[1] It has been suggested that feeding behavior of some species like Psectrogaster essequibensis may change its diet pattern in function of the sediment content of the water, showing a regime mainly based on algae in waters with high sediment load, until an omnivorous or detritivore regime in waters with low sediment load.[2]
Classification
[edit]The family has eight genera and around 105 species:[3]
Family Curimatidae
- Curimata (13 species)
- Curimatella (five species)
- Curimatopsis (nine species)
- Cyphocharax (38 species)
- Potamorhina (five species)
- Psectogaster (eight species)
- Pseudocurimata (six species)
- Steindachnerina (23 species)
In addition, one fossil genus is known in †Plesiocurimata Figueiredo & Costa-Carvalho, 1999 from the Oligocene-aged Tremembé Formation of Brazil.[4]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Weitzman, S.H.; Vari, R.P. (1998). Paxton, J.R.; Eschmeyer, W.N. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. p. 103. ISBN 0-12-547665-5.
- ^ Fernández Espinoza, Carla Eloísa; Pouilly, M; Rejas, Danny (2011-01-01). "Variación de la dieta de Psectrogaster essequibensis (Piscis : Curimatidae) en la Amazonia Boliviana". Revista Boliviana de Ecológia y Conservación (Bolivia). 29: 53–63.
- ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Family Curimatidae". FishBase. October 2017 version.
- ^ de Figueiredo Francisco, J.; Mello, da Costa Carvalho Bartira Correia de; de Figueiredo Francisco, J.; Mell, da Costa Carvalho Bartira Correia de (1999-01-01). "Plesiocurimata alvarengai gen. et sp. nov. (Teleostei, Ostariophysi, Curimatidae) from the Tertiary of Taubate Basin, Sao Paulo State, Brazil". Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciencias. 71 (4 Part 2): 885–893. ISSN 0001-3765.
- Nelson, Joseph S. (2006). Fishes of the World. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 0-471-25031-7
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