''Acestrorhynchus'' ("needle jaw" ) is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of 14 species of

characiform Characiformes is an order of ray-finned fish, comprising the characins and their allies. Grouped in 18 recognized families, more than 2000 different species are described, including the well-known piranha and tetras.; Buckup P.A.: "Relationshi ...

fish Fish are Aquatic animal, aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack Limb (anatomy), limbs with Digit (anatomy), digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and Chondrichthyes, cartilaginous and bony fish as we ...

found only in fresh water in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...

, the sole

in the family Acestrorhynchidae. Their greatest diversity is in the

Orinoco The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...

and

Amazon basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Boli ...

s. These fish have elongated

pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus of ...

-like bodies and large conical teeth, adapted for predation on other types of fish. They are sometimes referred to as freshwater

barracuda A barracuda, or cuda for short, is a large, predatory, ray-finned fish known for its fearsome appearance and ferocious behaviour. The barracuda is a saltwater fish of the genus ''Sphyraena'', the only genus in the family Sphyraenidae, which was ...

s in the

aquarium An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...

trade, although the name is used of other characins, as well. They range from 35 to 400 mm in length. Common names are ''cachorinho, cachorro, mopiye, payala, pejezorro, pez cachorro, pez zorro'', pike characin, ''moinge, halatawéi, halataway, dagu fisi, ueua, wayabra, zadoe,'' freshwater barracuda, ''saicanga, branca, cajaba, cachorra magra, cadelinha ''and'' dentudo.''

Species

* '' Acestrorhynchus abbreviatus'' (

Cope The cope (known in Latin as ''pluviale'' 'rain coat' or ''cappa'' 'cape') is a liturgical vestment, more precisely a long mantle or cloak, open in front and fastened at the breast with a band or clasp. It may be of any liturgical colours, litu ...

, 1878) * '' Acestrorhynchus altus''

Menezes Menezes, sometimes Meneses, was originally a Portuguese toponymic surname which originated in Montes Torozos, a region in Tierra de Campos, northeast of Valladolid and southeast of Palencia. The ancestor of the Meneses lineage was Tello Pérez de Me ...

, 1969 * '' Acestrorhynchus britskii'' Menezes, 1969 * '' Acestrorhynchus falcatus'' (

Bloch Bloch is a surname of German origin. Notable people with this surname include: A–F * (1859-1914), French rabbi *Adele Bloch-Bauer (1881-1925), Austrian entrepreneur *Albert Bloch (1882–1961), American painter * (born 1972), German motor journal ...

, 1794) (freshwater barracuda, spotted cachorro) * '' Acestrorhynchus falcirostris'' (

G. Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier (; 23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier was a major figure in nat ...

, 1819) (slender freshwater barracuda, big-eyed cachorro) * '' Acestrorhynchus grandoculis'' Menezes &

Géry Géry () is a commune in the Meuse department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. See also *Communes of the Meuse department The following is a list of the 499 communes of the Meuse department of France. The communes cooperate in the fo ...

, 1983 * '' Acestrorhynchus heterolepis'' (

, 1878) * '' Acestrorhynchus isalineae'' Menezes & Géry, 1983 * ''

Acestrorhynchus lacustris ''Acestrorhynchus lacustris'' is a species of fish in the family Acestrorhynchidae. It was described by Christian Frederik Lütken in 1875, originally under the genus '' Xiphorhamphus''. It inhabits the São Francisco and Paraná River. It reache ...

'' ( Lütken, 1875) * '' Acestrorhynchus maculipinna'' Menezes & Géry, 1983 * '' Acestrorhynchus microlepis'' ( Jardine, 1841) (pike characin) * '' Acestrorhynchus minimus'' Menezes, 1969 * '' Acestrorhynchus nasutus'' C. H. Eigenmann, 1912 * '' Acestrorhynchus pantaneiro'' Menezes, 1992

External links

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Aquarium info
Acestrorhynchidae Fish of South America {{Characiformes-stub