Scientists in Brazil have described a new species of tetra from the upper Tapajs River drainage in Brazil.
The new species is named Hemigrammus silimoni by Heraldo Britski and Flvio Lima after its collector, Keve de Silimon, in the latest issue of the journal Copeia.
Hemigrammus silimoni is distinguished from congeners in having a conspicuous ocellated caudal-fin blotch on the lower portion of the dorsal caudal-fin lobe, a character unique to this species.
Of the ecology of the fish, the authors write t the type locality, the Rio Juruena is about 50 meters wide and 1.7 to 2.0 meters deep, with swift running, crystal-clear waters; bottom is composed of sand and rocks.
River edge vegetation was composed mainly of tall grass, though gallery forest was present downstream.
Specimens of H. silimoni were collected in areas of slack current near the river bank...Gut contents...consisted primarily of algae and included other vegetal matter.
For more information, see the paper: Britski, HA and FCT Lima (2008) A new species of Hemigrammus from the upper Rio Tapajs basin in Brazil (Teleostei: Characiformes: Characidae). Copeia, 2008, pp. 565"569.