New Blog 1: Climbing Catfish

Climbing Catfish

The new samples of L. wahari confirmed that the species is a member of a group that bridges two catfish families. Bony plates on both its head and tail, plus other features, link the species to the Loricariidae, a widespread and successful family of fully armored catfishes. But L. wahari also has a specialized pelvic fin that decouples from its body and moves backward and forward independently. This feature—used in combination with a grasping mouth to move like an inchworm up rocks—is otherwise found only in a family of climbing catfish restricted to the Andes, the Astroblepidae.