Brazilian scientists have described a new species of loricariid catfish in the genus Hypostomus from northeastern Brazil.
The result, a description of Hypostomus chrysostiktos by Jos Birindelli, Angela Zanata and Flvio Lima, is published in the most recent issue of the journal Neotropical Ichthyology.
Hypostomus chrysostiktos is immediately distinguished from all other members of the genus in having a higher number (10"11) of branched dorsal-fin rays (all other Hypostomus have 7 branched dorsal-fin rays).
The only other loricariid genus to have as many branched dorsal-fin rays is Pterygoplichthys, but H. chrysostiktos differs from members of this genus in having slightly evertible cheek plates and lacking an enlarged stomach attached to the dorsal abdominal wall by a connective tissue sheet.
The new species is named or its colour pattern, which consists of a brown body with numerous small yellow or gold spots (Greek chrysos = gold and stiktos = spot), and is known only from the Paraguau River drainage, a river in northeastern Brazil.
The catfish were collected in dark water stretches of rivers with a rocky bottom.
For more information, see the paper: Birindelli, JLO, AM Zanata and FCT Lima (2007) Hypostomus chrysostiktos, a new species of armored catfish (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) from rio Paraguau, Bahia State, Brazil. Neotropical Ichthyology 5, pp. 271"278.