Morphology Data of Spatuloricaria tuira
Identification keys
Abnormalities
Main Ref. Fichberg, I., O.T. Oyakawa and M. de Pinna, 2014
Appearance refers to
Bones in OsteoBase

Sex attributes

Specialized organs
Different appearance always different morphology between mature adults
Different colors
Remarks Males with isosceles triangle-shaped head in dorsal view (vs. more equilateral triangle shape in females). Mature males with hypertrophied odontodes, partially covered with thickened integument shelf, along a lateral region of the head extending from the first infraorbital pore to the opercle, with more posterior odontodes thicker, shorter and curved posteriorly at their tips. Odontodes in males are larger than in females throughout the body, most markedly so on the dorsal surface of the pectoral fin.

Descriptive characteristics of juvenile and adult

Striking features
Body shape lateral
Cross section
Dorsal head profile
Type of eyes
Type of mouth/snout
Position of mouth
Type of scales bony plates or armour
Diagnosis

Spatuloricaria tuirais distinguished from all other congeners except Spatuloricaria nudiventris by its abdominal surface completely naked or rarely with few, very small plates (vs. abdominal region covered with plates) and by the absence of preanal plates (vs. presence of one to four preanal plates). It can be differentiated from S. nudiventris and S. fimbriata by having five transversal dark brown bands on the dorsal region (vs. four transversal dark brown dorsal bands in S. nudiventris and S. fimbriata) and by having dark-brown irregular stripes on the dorsal region of the head and predorsal area (vs. absence of such stripes in S. nudiventris and S. fimbriata). This species has the smallest males recorded among species of Spatuloricaria, with mature individuals ranging from 8.55 to 15.39 cm SL and seems to be the only one in the genus where mature males are smaller than mature females (the opposite is the case in other species of Spatuloricaria). However, additional materials of some of the other species are needed to further verify these observations (Ref. 96500).

Description: Dorsal-fin rays i,7; anal-fin rays i,5; pectoral-fin rays i,6; pelvic-fin rays i,5 (Ref. 96500).

Ease of Identification

Meristic characteristics of Spatuloricaria tuira

Lateral Lines Interrupted: No
Scales on lateral line
Pored lateral line scales
Scales in lateral series
Scale rows above lateral line
Scale rows below lateral line
Scales around caudal peduncle
Barbels
Gill clefts (sharks/rays only)
Gill rakers
on lower limb
on upper limb
total
Vertebrae
preanal
total

Fins

Dorsal fin(s)

Attributes no striking attributes
Fins number 1
Finlets No. Dorsal   
Ventral  
Spines total
Soft-rays total 8 - 8
Adipose fin absent

Caudal fin

Attributes forked

Anal fin(s)

Fins number
Spines total
Soft-rays total 6 - 6

Paired fins

Pectoral Attributes  
Spines     
Soft-rays   7 - 7
Pelvics Attributes  
Position    abdominal  before origin of D1
Spines     
Soft-rays   6 - 6
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