Hypostomus watwata Hancock, 1828
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
Hypostomus watwata, commonly known as the armored catfish, is a species of catfish in the family Loricariidae. It is native to South America, where it occurs in the coastal drainages of Guyana and French Guiana, ranging from the Oyapock to the Demerara River. It is an introduced species in Hawaii.
H. watwata is typically seen in the brackish lower reaches of rivers, in muddy areas with mangrove trees such as Laguncularia racemosa, Avicennia germinans, and Rhizophora mangle. It reaches 45 cm (18 in) in standard length and is believed to be a facultative air breather. The species is known to spawn by laying eggs in excavated burrows in the mud.
Wikipedia contributors, Hypostomus watwata; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T22:53:09.582787+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Hypostomus watwata Hancock, 1828
- Name authority
- Hancock, 1828
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Siluriformes
- Family
- Loricariidae
- Genus
- Hypostomus
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: no · Freshwater: yes · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderSiluriformes
- familyLoricariidae Rafinesque, 1815
- subfamilyHypostominae Kner, 1853
- tribeHypostomini Kner, 1853
- genusHypostomus Lacepède, 1803
- speciesHypostomus watwata Hancock, 1828
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Hypostomus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Hypostomus alatus Castelnau, 1855 | LoricariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Hypostomus albopunctatus (Regan, 1908) | LoricariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Hypostomus ancistroides (Ihering, 1911) | LoricariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Hypostomus annectens (Regan, 1904) | LoricariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Hypostomus arecuta Cardoso, Almirón, Casciotta, Aichino, Lizarralde & Montoya-Burgos, 2012 | LoricariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Hypostomus aspilogaster (Cope, 1894) | LoricariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Hypostomus boulengeri (Eigenmann & Kennedy, 1903) | LoricariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Hypostomus brevicauda (Günther, 1864) | LoricariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Hypostomus crassicauda Boeseman, 1968 | LoricariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Hypostomus derbyi (Haseman, 1911) | LoricariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Hypostomus ericius Armbruster, 2003 | LoricariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Hypostomus fonchii Weber & Montoya-Burgos, 2002 | LoricariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Squaliforma watwata (Hancock, 1828) (Hancock, 1828) | synonym |
| Hypostomus verres Valenciennes, 1840 Valenciennes, 1840 | synonym |
| Plecostumus watwata (Hancock, 1828) (Hancock, 1828) | synonym |
| Squaliforma verres (Valenciennes, 1840) (Valenciennes, 1840) | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- Hancock, J. (1828). Notes on some species of fishes and reptiles, from Demerara, presented to the Zoological Society by John Hancock, Esq., corr. memb. In a Letter Addressed to the Secretary of the Society. Zoological Journal, London, v. 4: 240–247. Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3NZC4. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.