Monocirrhus polyacanthus Heckel, 1840
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
The Amazon leaffish (Monocirrhus polyacanthus), or South American leaffish, is a species of fish belonging to the family Polycentridae. It is found in the Amazon basin in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela, where it inhabits edges of rivers and lakes, and streams. It is generally a low-density species that lives in slow-moving or essentially stagnant waters in areas with plant debris.
Amazon leaffish are sometimes kept in aquariums, but they require acidic water, low light and live prey.
Wikipedia contributors, Amazon leaffish; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T23:13:54.141038+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Monocirrhus polyacanthus Heckel, 1840
- Name authority
- Heckel, 1840
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Family
- Polycentridae
- Genus
- Monocirrhus
- 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
- familyPolycentridae Gill, 1858
- genusMonocirrhus Heckel, 1840
- speciesMonocirrhus polyacanthus Heckel, 1840
Close classified relatives
No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Monocirrhus mimophyllus Eigenmann & Allen, 1921 Eigenmann & Allen, 1921 | 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.
- Heckel, J. J. (1840). Johann Natterer’s neue Flussfische Brasilien’s nach den Beobachtungen und Mittheilungen des Entdeckers beschrieben (Erste Abtheilung, Die Labroiden). Annalen Des Wiener Museums Der Naturgeschichte, 2: 325–471, Pls. 29–30. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.101457 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:446BB. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.