Acanthopoma
Monotypic genus of fish
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Acanthopoma is a monospecific genus of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Trichomycteridae, the pencil and parasitic catfishes, and the subfamily Stegophilinae, the parasitic catfishes.[2] The only species in the genus is Acanthopoma annectens.[3] This fish grows to about 12 centimetres (4.7 in) SL. It originates from the upper and middle Amazon River, and is known to occur in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.[4] This species is parasitic, attacking like a leech and leaving wounds all over the fish which it attacks; it spreads a bundle of opercular and inter-opercular spines into the wound and remains there and is difficult to remove. It may invade parts of wading or swimming animals but apparently exist in these passages only for a short while, as they quickly die from a lack of oxygen.[4]
| Acanthopoma | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Division: | Teleostei |
| Order: | Siluriformes |
| Family: | Trichomycteridae |
| Subfamily: | Stegophilinae |
| Genus: | Acanthopoma Lütken, 1892[2] |
| Species: | A. annectens |
| Binomial name | |
| Acanthopoma annectens Lütken, 1892[2] | |
