A native species of the Pacific Northwest, scoloplax baileyi is also known as the Pacific lamprey or Puget Sound lamprey. It spends most of its life buried in streambeds along the coast of Washington and Oregon.
They are generally easy to keep and can be great pets for the family or for the office.
If you plan to keep Scoloplax baileyi for a pet in your home aquarium, you need to be familiar with how to care for the fish. It lives in a very specific environment, so it’s important that you take care of the fish carefully.
Scoloplax baileyi description
Scoloplax species differ from other catfishes due to their shield-shaped rostral plates with multiple large, recurved odontodes. They have three rows of odontode-bearing plates, two bilaterally and one midventrally. In addition, there are numerous recurved odootodes on the rostral plate. There is no adipose fin. The maximum length reached was approximately 20 mm (0.79 in) SL.
As a result, Scoloplax species have been modified to have enlarged, thin-walled, and clear stomachs. On the ventral side of the stomach, the intestine leaves the stomach, while the esophagus enters the stomach on the dorsal side. An area of muscular tissue separates the digestive part of the stomach from the esophagus to where the intestine exits. By using this modified stomach, one could control buoyancy or breathe air.
Distribution
South America is home to Scoloplax, namely Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay. S. baskini lives in the Rio Aripuan and Rio Madeira drainages of Amazonas State, Brazil. S. discra, which originates in the Amazon River and Paraguay River basins, is the most widely distributed species in the Amazon basin. Tocantins-Araguaia, Xingu, and Paraguay River basins contain S. distolothrix. S. dolicholophia is found in the Rio Negro basin of Brazil as well as Lake Aman. Amazon and Paraguay-Paraná rivers host S. empousa.
Biology
Most of the year, these streams are blackwater in the Rio Unini basin because they are small streams surrounded by dense forest vegetation. During the dry season, some streams carry light sediment and have higher pH and conductivity values.
During the collection, handnets were used to sweep the bottom of the stream at a depth of 0.4 to 1.5 meters; the substrate is made up of sand and silt. There was a temperature range of 24.8°C to 26.7°C, a pH range of 5.2 to 6.5, a conductivity range of 8.8 to 18.6 S/cm, and a dissolved oxygen range of 1.07 to 6.68 mg/l.
This species was also found with at least 40 species, including some that have yet to be described, from different taxonomic groups (Ref. 92919).
Ecology
The species of Scoloplax can be found in leaf litter in both clear and black water habitats, such as oxbow lakes, backwater pools, and well-vegetated streams.
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