''Peckoltia brevis'' is a small species of ''

Peckoltia ''Peckoltia'' is a genus of small South American Loricariidae, armored suckermouth catfishes. Many of these fish are popular aquarium fish. Taxonomy ''Peckoltia'' is a Basal (phylogenetics), basal genus within the tribe Ancistrini of the subfami ...

'' belonging to the

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the three largest species alive ...

family

Loricariidae The Loricariidae is the largest family of catfish (order Siluriformes), with 92 genera and just over 680 species. Loricariids originate from freshwater habitats of Costa Rica, Panama, and tropical and subtropical South America. These fish are not ...

. ''Peckoltia brevis'' possesses the

L-number The L-number system is a semi-scientific classification system of catfish based on photographs of shipments of tropical catfish of the family Loricariidae published by the German aquarium magazine DATZ (Die Aquarien- und Terrarienzeitschrift (The ...

L205.

Distribution

''Peckoltia brevis'' is found in the middle and upper

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

within the Purus river basin.

Appearance

''Peckoltia brevis'' grows to around 11 cm and has numerous black spots and stripes on its yellow coloured body. Males can be distinguished from females by their slimmer profile and small teeth-like projections or

odontodes Odontodes, or dermal teeth, are hard structures found on the external surfaces of animals or near internal openings. They consist of a soft pulp surrounded by dentine and covered by a mineralized substance such as enamel, a structure similar to th ...

across the back half of their body.

Habits

''Peckoltia brevis'' inhabits tangled woody backwaters and feeds primarily on small meaty foods (such as carrion) and algae.

In the aquarium

''Peckoltia brevis'' requires a tropical softwater aquarium with temperatures of and a pH of around 6. Its behaviour is typical of other ''Loricariidae'' species; being very peaceful and sometimes inactive. The species is not exceptionally common in the aquarium trade.

References

*Planet catfish - http://www.planetcatfish.com/common/species.php?species_id=1339 *Fish Base - http://www.fishbase.org/summary/49958 {{Taxonbar, from=Q1518749 Loricariidae Fish described in 1935