A new species of marine catfish of the family Ariidae has been described from the Pacific coast of Colombia.
Named Cathorops manglarensis in a paper by Alexandre Marceniuk and published in a recent issue of the journal Zootaxa, the new species can be distinguished from all other members of the genus by a combination of 13"16 gill rakers on the first arch, 24"27 anal-fin rays, dorsal spine shorter than the pectoral spine, and posterior margin of the pectoral spine with short serrations.
There are 13 other species of Cathorops, of which seven (C. dasycephalus, C. fuerthii, C. hypophthalmus, C. multiradiatus, C. steindachneri, C. taylori and C. tuyra) are found in the eastern Pacific.
Cathorops manglarensis is named after the type locality (Cape Manglares) and is most easily confused with C. multiradiatus, from which it is further distinguished in having a longer maxillary barbel and longer and wider accessory toothplate with numerous molariform teeth.
Given this potential for confusion, C. multiradiatus is also redescribed in this study.
For more information, see the paper: Marceniuk, AP (2007) Description of Cathorops manglarensis, a new species from the Colombian Pacific, with redescription of Cathorops multiradiatus (Siluriformes; Ariidae). Zootaxa 1529: 33"48.