Wood eating catfish discovered in Amazon
October 8th, 2010 - 3:27 am ICT by Aishwarya BhattNew specie of catfish discovered in the Amazon, which eats wood. The new specie was discovered by freshwater scientist Paulo Petry in the Fitzgarad arch which is located at the Peruvian side of the Amazon.
It was believed that deep-sea crabs were the only marine life that fed on woods.
The specie has spoon shaped teeth that it uses to scoop wood into its mouth. The fish mostly feed on fallen logs. The frightening thing is that the animal which was just discovered is in danger of extinction, thanks primarily to human development.
According to freshwater scientist Paulo Petry, “There are 4,700 freshwater fish species in South America right now. On average, over 100 species per year have been discovered. This year alone, 69 new species have been described thus far. These numbers show very clearly that we are far from knowing the number of freshwater species in South America.”
The armored catfish was captured at the confluence of the Purus and Curanja rivers. The specie is unique to South American and they are relatively specialized to eat wood. It is estimated that only 10 catfish species feed on wood.
It is estimated that some 4,700 different species of freshwater fishes are in the Amazon. On the average, 100 new species are discovered annually in the Amazon. Already there have been some 69 new specie discoveries this year.
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Tags: amazon, armored catfish, confluence, danger of extinction, deep sea, discoveries, fish species, freshwater fish, freshwater fishes, logs, new specie, petry, purus, rivers, scientist, sea crabs, south america, species feed, spoon, teeth