''Tarumania'' is a genus of freshwater fish first described in 2017. It contains a single species, ''Tarumania walkerae'', and constitutes the only genus in the family Tarumaniidae. ''T. walkerae'' is a predatory species that hunts among the leaf litter of the flooded forest floor in the Rio Negro drainage basin.

Discovery and taxonomy

The species first came to the attention of scientists in 2002 in the form of a poorly preserved juvenile specimen collected as part of a survey. The specimen possessed many unusual traits and could not be identified even to family level. Due to the poor preservation, no formal description was attempted until many years later, after the discovery of a living population and collection of better specimens. The genus name ''Tarumania'' was chosen after the site of first collection (the

Tarumã Mirim River The Tarumã Mirim River ( pt, Igarapé Tarumã Mirim) is a river in the state of Amazonas, Brazil. It is a left tributary of the Rio Negro, which it enters west of the city of Manaus. Course The Tarumã Mirim drains the west part of the Tarum ...

). ''Tarumania'' is a

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 ...

, the order which includes

piranha A piranha or piraña (, , or ; or , ) is one of a number of freshwater fish in the family Serrasalmidae, or the subfamily Serrasalminae within the tetra family, Characidae in order Characiformes. These fish inhabit South American rivers, ...

s and

tetras Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA; formerly known as Trans-European Trunked Radio), a European standard for a trunked radio system, is a professional mobile radio and two-way transceiver specification. TETRA was specifically designed for use by go ...

. Due to its distinctness from all other characiformes, the describers placed it in its own family, Tarumaniidae. Based on their morphological analysis they estimated ''Tarumaniidae'' to be most likely the sister group of

Erythrinidae The Erythrinidae are a family of fishes found in rivers and other freshwater habitats from Costa Rica south as far as Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the s ...

, the trahira family, but no DNA evidence was available to confirm or deny this.

Description and biology

''Tarumania'' possesses a very unusual

swimbladder The swim bladder, gas bladder, fish maw, or air bladder is an internal gas-filled organ that contributes to the ability of many bony fish (but not cartilaginous fish) to control their buoyancy, and thus to stay at their current water depth w ...

, divided into eleven separate compartments (as opposed to one or two in most fish) which extends along almost the entire length of the body. Its body is extremely elongated and oval-shaped, giving the fish an eel-like appearance. All specimens of ''Tarumania'' were recovered from isolated pools among the leaf-litter of the forest, where they appear to hunt invertebrates such as shrimp on the flooded forest floor. They are well adapted to swim amongst tangled undergrowth, with very mobile pelvic fins that move independently of each other and the ability to twist separately from the rest of the body. They are able to breathe air in shallow-water conditions.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q42882292, from2=Q36458114, from3=Q42882305 Characiformes Monotypic fish genera