Paralithoxus

Paralithoxus is a genus of suckermouth armored catfishes native to tropical South America.

Paralithoxus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Siluriformes
Family:	Loricariidae
Subfamily:	Hypostominae
Genus:	Paralithoxus Boeseman, 1982
Type species
Paralithoxus bovallii (Regan, 1906)

Species

There are currently nine recognized species in this genus:^[1]

• Paralithoxus boujardi So. Muller & Isbrücker, 1993
• Paralithoxus bovallii (Regan, 1906)
• Paralithoxus jariensis (Silva, Covain, Oliveira & Roxo, 2017)
• Paralithoxus mocidade Rapp-Py-Daniel, Oliveira, Bastos, Ito, Zuanon & Briglia-Ferreira, 2019^[2]
• Paralithoxus pallidimaculatus Boeseman, 1982
• Paralithoxus planquettei Boeseman, 1982
• Paralithoxus raso (Silva, Covain, Oliveira & Roxo, 2017)
• Paralithoxus stocki Nijssen & Isbrücker, 1990
• Paralithoxus surinamensis Boeseman, 1982

Distribution

Paralithoxus range from the Oyapock drainage along the border between Brazil and French Guiana, through Suriname west to the Tacutu River along the border between Guyana and Brazil and south to the Uatama and Trombetas rivers of Brazil.^[3]

Description

Paralithoxus contains some of the most dorsoventrally flattened fishes in the world.^[4] They can be distinguished from most loricariids by having a round instead of oval lower lip. The lower lip is large and round as in Exastilithoxus with the edge sometimes frilled, but not with the barbels seen in Exastilithoxus.^[4]

Paralithoxus species have a unique, enlarged, thin-walled stomach from which the intestine exits dorsally.^[4] The stomach is expanded, thin-walled, and clear and is used in breathing air. A thin, clear tube exits the main body of the stomach anterodorsally, terminating at the pylorus just anterior to the posterior extent of the stomach. The intestine tends to have less coils than other members of Ancistrini. The expanded stomach is slightly larger in males; this is due to the males having more space due to a difference in the relative size of the gonads.^[5]

Colouration in Paralithoxus species is typically slate gray to tan with a few lighter markings on the body; there are occasionally bands in the pectoral and caudal fins. The ventral surface ranges from white to slightly lighter than the sides. The abdomen is naked (scaleless and unplated). The caudal fin is slightly forked.^[4]

Breeding males develop extremely long odontodes on the leading edge of the pectoral fin spine.^[4]

Ecology

Paralithoxus species are rheophilic, meaning they prefer to inhabit fast-moving water.^[3] Paralithoxus is said to inhabit both rivulets and medium-sized creeks. Paralithoxus have been collected from riffles on the main-stem Essequibo River in Guyana. These peripheral habitats are among the first parts of the river to dry and the respiratory stomach may have evolved to handle this periodic drying.^[4] The flattened morphology suggests that Paralithoxus species live under rocks.^[4]

Paralithoxus have a unique air-holding stomach. The large size and small number of eggs suggest that parental care is well developed, but nothing is known of the breeding habits of Paralithoxus.^[5]