A few days ago a Pseudolithoxus were described that has been known to us for a long time in aquaristic studies. For the first time a single specimen was imported in 2003 by Jens Gottwald (Aquatarium / Panta Rhei) from the Rio Trombetas at Cachoeira Porteira and then by Ingo Seidel as Pseudolithoxus sp. (L 385) presented in the DATZ. The fishermen of the company Panta Rhei from Brelingen in the Wedemark near Hanover were able to catch some more of them in Rio Branquinho in 2015 for the first time.

The Rio Branquinho is a small blackwater river that drains over the Rio Jauaperi into the Rio Negro and geographically far from the Rio Trombetas. It is particularly interesting that the Rio Branquinho is a black-water habitat, while the Rio Trombetas is a clear-water habitat.

Now Rupert Collins and colleagues have scientifically described this species as Pseudolithoxus kinja in their work “Biogeography and species delimitation of the rheophilic suckermouth catfish genus Pseudolithoxus(Siluriformes: Loricariidae), with the description of a new species from the Brazilian Amazon”.

In the spring of 2016, I had the opportunity to visit the Rio Branquinho in Roraima, Brazil. We arrived late in the afternoon at a bridge over the Rio Branquinho. Our catcher immediately went into the river and was able to catch more than a dozen of these animals within a few hours. These arrived later with a commercial export to Panta Rhei to Brelingen.

The Rio Branquinho is a black water river with a medium flow rate. The ground consists of sand, which is repeatedly mixed with different pebbles. The Pseudolithoxus were caught in the stronger current at some larger rocks. Together with the catfish, we were also able to catch Nannostomus trifasciatus, Crenicichla cf. regani, some earth-eaters and others.