Southwestern Association of Naturalists The South American Suckermouth Armored Catfish, Pterygoplichthys anisitsi (Pisces: Loricaridae), in Texas, with Comments on Foreign Fish Introductions in the American Southwest Author(s): Leo G. Nico and R. Trent Martin Source: The Southwestern Naturalist, Vol. 46, No. 1 (Mar., 2001), pp. 98-104 Published by: Southwestern Association of Naturalists Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3672381 . Accessed: 10/09/2014 17:50 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Southwestern Association of Naturalists is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Southwestern Naturalist. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 158.135.136.72 on Wed, 10 Sep 2014 17:50:55 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 98 TheSouthwestern Naturalist vol.46, no. 1 the assumption of Briggs and Miller (1960), waterclingfishes of the genus Gobiesoxfrom south- of the Museum of later confirmed by Miller based on examina- ern Mexico. Occasional Papers of 616:1-15. tion of the Paris specimen, that the population Zoology,University Michigan BURR,B. M., AND D. G. BUTH. 1977. New localities fromRio Chapalagana is G. fluviatilis. for the rare Mexican clingfish,Gobiesoxfluviatilis, from Durango and Chihuahua. Southwestern Resumen-Se confirmala presencia de Gobie- Naturalist22:125-128. sox in el Rio en el Es- fluviatilis Chapalagana ESPINOSA,P. H., ANDJ. L. CASTRO-AQUIRRE.1996. A new tado de Zacatecas, tambien se reafirmala hi- freshwaterclingfish (Pisces: Gobiesocidae) from p6tesis de Briggsy Miller (1960) acerca de que Baja CaliforniaSur, Mexico. Bulletinof the South- las poblaciones por ellos colectadas en otros ern CaliforniaAcademy of Sciences 95:120-126. estados, pertenecen a la misma especie colec- ESPINOSA, P. H., P. FUENTES MATA, AND J.L. CASTRO- de Gobiesox tada por Pellegrin en 1901. AGUIRRE.1987 (1988). Presencia flu- viatilisBriggs y Miller (Pisces: Goiesociformes) en We are gratefulto O. J. Polaco fordonating the el rio Cuitzmala, Jalisco, M6xico y sus implica- specimenand forfield data used in thisstudy, as well ciones zoogeograficas. Anales del Instituto de as forhis comments and observations.We also thank Biologia, Universidad Nacional Aut6noma de 2 anonymousreviewers for their comments on the M6xico. Serie Zoologia 58:727-734. paper.We thankMadame Beauchot for the loan of MILLER,R. R., AND M. L. SMITH. 1986. Origin and Pellegrin'sspecimen and theUnited States National geographyof the fishesof central Mexico. In: Ho- ScienceFoundation grant DEB 80-02017. cutt, C. H., and E. O. Wiley,editors. The zooge- ography of North American freshwaterfishes. & New York. 487-517. LITERATURECITED John Wiley Sons, Pp. NELSON,J. S. 1994. Fishes of the world, Third ed. BRIGGS,J. C. 1951. A review of the clingfishes(Go- John Wiley & Sons, New York. biesocidae) of the eastern Pacific with descrip- PELLEGRIN,J. 1901. Poissonsrecueillis par M. L. Diguet tions of new species. Proceedings of the Califor- dans l'Etat de Jalisco (Mexique). Bulletin du Mu- nia Zoological Club 1:57-108. seium National D'Histoire Naturelle,Paris 7:204- BRIGGS,J. C. 1955. A monograph of the clingfishes 207. (Order Xenopterygii). Stanford Ichthyological Bulletin 6:1-224. Submitted5 April1999. Accepted29 December1999. BRIGGS,J. C., ANDR. RKMILLER. 1960. Two new fresh- AssociateEditor was David R. Edds. THE SOUTH AMERICAN SUCKERMOUTH ARMORED CATFISH, PTERYGOPLICHTHYS ANISITSI (PISCES: LORICARIIDAE), IN TEXAS, WITH COMMENTS ON FOREIGN FISH INTRODUCTIONS IN THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST LEO G. NIco* AND R. TRENT MARTIN UnitedStates Geological Survey, Florida CaribbeanScience Center, 7920 N. W 71stStreet, Gainesville, FL 32653-3071 (LGN) 6310 Overdale,Houston, Texas 77087 (RTM) *Correspondent:[email protected] Fishes of the familyLoricariidae, commonly P disjunctivusin Florida (Fuller et al., 1999). An known as suckermoutharmored catfishes,are introducedpopulation of P multiradiatusis also bottom-dwellingspecies thatare naturallydistrib- establishedin Puerto Rico (Bunkley-Williamset uted in freshwaters of South and CentralAmer- al., 1994). Commonlyknown as sailfincatfishes, ica. The familyis quite diversewith more than membersof the genus are characterizedby large 600 describedspecies. At least 2 loricariidsof the dorsal finswith 9 or more (usually10+) dorsal- genus Pterygoplichthys(subfamily Hypostominae) fin rays (Armbruster,1997). Several other lori- have established populations in the United cariidcatfishes also have breedingpopulations in States,P multiradiatusin Florida and Hawaii and warm-watersites of the United States.However, This content downloaded from 158.135.136.72 on Wed, 10 Sep 2014 17:50:55 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions March2001 Notes 99 """Yi : "/ H, s _A-----------4 0:w-E HOUSTONII.I . 1)s---- -- -- 1-6. HO~STON%% %h3 r ~qA TEXA 0o 2 %ls us?95lic?''`KILOMETERS %% 5 KILOMETERS FIG. 1-Map of waterwaysand major roadwaysin a portion of BuffaloBayou drainage, Harris Co., Texas, showing sites where suckermouth armored catfishhave been captured or observed (stars; 1, Sims Bayou upstream of State Highway 35 at HemingwayAvenue; 2, Brays Bayou near Interstate45; 3, Brays Bayou at MacGregor Park; 4, Buffalo Bayou near Wayside Drive; 5, Sims Bayou near Anna Held Road). Solid stars represent records of P anisitsisupported by museum voucher specimens; other records are unconfirmed. thereare only3 documentedcases of established at the site,but not captured.Two of the larger populationsof loricariidsin theAmerican South- P anisitsi(479 mm TL and 470 mm TL), taken west,and all are based on recordsof 1 or more in June to July1998, were gravidfemales. The unidentifiedspecies assignableto the genus Hy- smallestspecimen (120 mm TL) was capturedon postomus.Two populationsare knownfrom Tex- 30 June 1999. The largestspecimen captured was as, 1 occurringin the headwatersof the San An- a gravidfemale taken 17 May 1999; live it mea- tonio River,Bexar Co., and another in Comal sured 502 mm TL and 380 mm standardlength, Springs,Comal Co. (Barron, 1964; Hubbs et al., SL. On 6 June and 18 September2000, armored 1978, 1991; Whitesideand Berkhouse,1992). An- catfishwere takenfrom an upstreamsite of Sims other unidentified Hypostomuspopulation is Bayou near Anna Held Road (29038'45"N, knownfrom Nevada in Indian Spring,a thermal 95020'05"W; K. K. Schlicht,Texas Parksand Wild- spring in Clark Co. (Courtenay and Deacon, life Department,pers. comm.). We were sent 3 1982; Fuller et al., 1999). specimens (ca. 260 to 290 mm SL) fromthe Sep- This note documentsthe occurrenceof an ap- tembercollection, and we identifiedall as P an- parentlyreproducing nonindigenous population isitsi. of the South American loricariidcatfish Pterygo- During the past few years, armored catfish plichthysanisitsi recently discovered in the Buffalo have been reported fromseveral other sites in Bayou drainage, Harris Co. (Houston area), the BuffaloBayou drainage. M. J. Kelly (Texas southeasternTexas (Fig. 1). During the period Natural Resource Conservation Commission, July1998 to November 1999, one of the authors pers. comm.) reported the occurrence of suck- (RTM) captured 29 P anisitsi(120 to 502 mm ermoutharmored catfish in nearbyBrays Bayou, total length,TL) with a cast net in Sims Bayou a tributaryof BuffaloBayou in the south Hous- just upstreamfrom State Highway 35 at Heming- ton area ca. 5 km northof the Sims Bayou site. wayAvenue (29040'05"N, 95'17'51"W), ca. 13 km He observedthe catfishgulping air in the bayou upstreamfrom the stream'sconfluence with Buf- near the Interstate45 crossing shortlyafter a falo Bayou. Additional P anisitsiwere observed large fishkill event in July1998; Kellyalso sight- This content downloaded from 158.135.136.72 on Wed, 10 Sep 2014 17:50:55 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 100 The SouthwesternNaturalist vol. 46, no. 1 ed a possible suckermoutharmored catfishin central South America (Weber, 1992). The spe- BraysBayou at MacGregorPark duringthe same cies was originally described by Eigenmann period. Based on that information,the second and Kennedy (1903). Like all loricariidcatfish- author visited Brays Bayou (ca. 29042'43"N, es, R anisitsihas a body coveringof bony plates 95018'40"W) on 17 May 1999 and successfully and a ventral mouth modified into a sucking netted a single P anisitsi(390 mm TL, 285 mm disk. Members of the genus Pterygoplichthysare SL). Texas Parks and WildlifeDepartment biol- somewhat distinctin having 9 to 14 dorsal fin ogistscaptured 2 specimens (356 and 458 mm rays. Texas specimens we examined (n = 14) TL) originallyidentified as "plecostomus"on 10 have 11 to 12 dorsal fin rays (counts do not in January1996 duringfish survey work the main include the dorsal spines). In contrast,Hypos- channel of BuffaloBayou, Houston (M. Webb, tomusand most other loricariids have 7 (very Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, pers. rarely 8) dorsal fin rays (Weber, 1991, 1992; Their site was at an comm.). capture outflow Armbruster1997). Color pattern on the fins from a wastewater near Drive plant Wayside and dorsal body of P. anisitsitypically