Rhyacichthys aspro
FAMILY
Rhyacichthyidae
TAXONOMY
Platyptera aspro Valenciennes, 1837, west Java and Sulawesi. Although
Rhyacichthys aspro has several specializations of its own,
it is considered to be a primitive representative of the Gobioidei.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
Ilokano: Kampa; Japanese: Tsubasahaze; Visayan: Dalapakan.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Reaches 12.6 in (32 cm) total length. Head depressed dorsally,
with a wedgelike snout, and with small eyes. Mouth ventrally
placed on head with a fleshy upper lip. Body laterally compressed
toward tail, which is slightly forked; body with 27–40
scales in longitudinal series on flanks. Lateral line system well
developed on head and body. Pelvic fins separate, each with a
patch of enlarged musculature on the anterior border. Body
light brown with several darker, longitudinal stripes on flanks;
dark bands running from eye toward anterior tip of snout.
Dorsal fins with alternating light and dark longitudinal stripes;
caudal and pectoral fins pale with several dark vertical bands.
DISTRIBUTION
Islands of the western Pacific rim, extending in an arc from the
Ryukyu Islands of southern Japan, through Taiwan, Indonesia,
and the Philippines, to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.
HABITAT
Clings to rocks and boulders in fresh waters of torrential hill
streams. The streamlined head and body shape makes this
species well suited to living in these fast-flowing waters. The
fish may use the ventral part of head, thoracic region of the
body, and the pectoral and pelvic fins to attach to rocks. This
might be done by friction between the rock surface and rough
surfaces on the underside of the body, or by suction, in which
a low-pressure water flow between the body and the rock
“sticks” the fish to the substrate.
BEHAVIOR
Swims in a series of rapid darts and, at the approach of danger,
quickly moves into crevices under large rocks or boulders.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Herbivorous, browses on algae on the surfaces of stones.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Nothing known.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not threatened.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
None known.
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