Paracanthopoma parva Giltay, 1935

Open encyclopedia reference

Paracanthopoma parva is a species of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Trichomycteridae, the pencil and parasitic catfishes, and the subfamily Vandelliinae, the haematophagic catfishes. P. parva grows to about 2.7 centimetres (1.1 in) SL and is endemic to Brazil where it occurs in the Amazon and Essequibo River basins. Paracanthopoma parva has been found on the gills of another species of giant catfish, Brachyplatystoma vaillantii. Species within the genus Paracanthopoma have the longest and most robust snout, and the longest and strongest dentary teeth among blood-feeding candirus, which fit their drilling needs. Riding on a giant host is advantageous for dispersal, no need to search for hosts to feed, and protection from predators. It is unlikely that Paracanthopoma takes blood from the tiny holes it drills in the skin; the areas these fish attach to have no large blood vessels to supply them with blood, and fish that have been riding are found only with trace amounts of blood in their digestive tracts. Also, most vandelliine candirus take blood from the gill region of their hosts.

Wikipedia contributors, Paracanthopoma parva; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T23:30:43.191130+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Paracanthopoma parva Giltay, 1935

Name authority

Giltay, 1935

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Teleostei

Order

Siluriformes

Family

Trichomycteridae

Genus

Paracanthopoma

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.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. gigaclassActinopterygii
8. superclassActinopteri
9. classTeleostei
10. orderSiluriformes
11. familyTrichomycteridae Bleeker, 1858
12. subfamilyVandelliinae Bleeker, 1862
13. genusParacanthopoma Giltay, 1935
14. speciesParacanthopoma parva Giltay, 1935

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Paracanthopoma. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 309 records assigned to Trichomycteridae.

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.

1. Giltay, L. (1935). Notes ichthyologiques. X.--Description d’une espèce nouvelle de Trichomycteridae. Bulletin Du Musée Royal d’Histoire Naturelle de Belgique, 11 (27): 1–3. 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:4CNKD. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.