| Farlowella | |
|---|---|
| Farlowella arcus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Siluriformes |
| Family: | Loricariidae |
| Subfamily: | Loricariinae |
| Tribe: | Harttiini |
| Genus: | Farlowella Eigenmann and Eigenmann, 1889 |
| Type species | |
| Acestra acus Kner, 1853 |
|
| Species | |
|
See text. |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
Acestra Kner, 1853 |
|
Farlowella is a genus of catfish (order Siluriformes) of the family Loricariidae. These fish resemble twigs or sticks, hence the common names twig catfish or stick catfish. They may also sometimes be referred to as whiptail catfish. Twig catfishes are natives of South America.
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Farlowella is placed within the tribe Harttiini of the subfamily Loricariinae. Morphological, molecular, and phylogenetic studies have placed Farlowella as sister to Sturisoma.[1]
The genus name of Farlowella is named in honor of William Gilson Farlow, a famous American botanist of Harvard University whose main work was working with algae plants, the favorite food of this slender catfish.[2]
The genus Farlowella is broadly distributed in Amazon, Orinoco, Paraná, and coastal rivers of the Guyana Shield. It is absent from the Pacific slope of the Andes and from the coastal rivers of the Brazilian shield.[1]
Farlowella has a unique body shape that resembles of a thin stick of wood. The body is slender and elongate, often with a pronounced rostrum and a brownish color with two lateral dark stripes beginning at the tip of the rostrum, passing over the eyes and ending at the tail, which are periodically interrupted on the caudal peduncle.[1] Sexual dimorphism includes hypertrophied odontodes along the sides of the rostrum or the head in species with a short rostrum.[1]
There are only slight differences between the different types which sometimes lead to confusion. A very important identification is the presence of ventral scutes on these species which differentiates them from each other.[3] Twig catfishes grow between 10 centimetres (4 in) SL in F. smithi and 26.5 cm (10.4 in) SL in F. nattereri.[4][5]
Twig catfishes feed primarily on algae in their natural habitat. Species inhabit areas of gently flowing water in submerged dead leaves and sticks, among which it blends in as a form of camouflage.[1] Some specimens can sometimes be found in swift current over rocks and submerged wood. These species appear scarce, but this may partially be explained by their mimicry.[1] These species are open water brooders. The eggs are laid on open vertical surfaces such as submerged vegetation or rocks, in a single layer and are guarded by the male.[1]
F. acus, F. vittata and F. gracilis are the most commonly exported species for the aquarium.[3] Twig catfishes require clean water with high dissolved oxygen content.[6] Twig catfish are often lost without enough greens to feed upon.[6]