Hydrocyon armatus

Synonyms

Hydrocyon armatus Jardine, 1841

etymology

Hydrolycus: from the Greek hydro, meaning ‘water’, and lykos, meaning ‘wolf’.

armatus: from the Latin armatus, meaning ‘armour, armed or armoured’, presumably in reference to its fearsome dentition (Jardine did not specify).

classification

Order: Characiformes Family: Cynodontidae

habitat

This species is pelagic and adults tend to be associated with flowing stretches of main river channels and larger tributaries of both white and black water rivers, although it’s also known from a number of artificial lakes such as the Guri reservoir on the Río Caroni, Venezuela.

In fluvial populations reproduction occurs between November and April and adults perform upstream migrations in order to do so.

Juveniles presumably occur in smaller tributaries and areas of flooded forest.

water conditions

Temperature: 24 – 28 °C

pH: 6.0 – 8.0

Hardness: 36 – 268 ppm