A new Alestes tetra has been described from the Congo River drainage by ichthyologists from the USA and the Republic of Congo.
Melanie Stiassny, Robert Schelly and Victor Mamonekene name the new tetra Alestes inferus in the most recent issue of the journal Copeia.
Alestes inferus differs from congeners in having fewer pored scales along the lateral line and fewer vertebrae.
The new species, named in reference to the occurrence of the species below a series of rapids on the lower Congo River, in a south bank tributary (Latin inferus=lower, southern), is known only from the Mpozo River near its confluence with the Congo River.
According to the authors, the fish were collected with cast nets in shallow water and in deeper pools alongside emergent grasses at the riverbank over a substrate dominated by large rocks and rock rubble.
For more information, see the paper: Stiassny, MLJ, RC Schelly and V Mamonekene (2009) A new Alestes (Characiformes, Alestidae) from the Mpozo River in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Copeia 2009, pp. 110"116.