Surubí
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 Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum
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Pseudoplatystoma corruscans |
Surubí is the generic common name for several South American fish species of genus Pseudoplatystoma, family Pimelodidae. They inhabit the major rivers of north-eastern Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil. They prefer the main channels and tend to stay at maximum depth.
Surubíes are large migratory fish, with robust bodies, and their meat is very appreciated. They are predatory carnivores, consuming other fish such as sábalos, Prochilodus lineatus, and bogas, Leporinus obtusidens, as well as crustaceans.
[edit] Pseudoplatystoma corruscans
This fish is known as surubí manchado or surubí pintado (Spanish for "stained" and "painted" surubí, respectively). The English name is spotted sorubim. It has a characteristic pattern of dots and streaks on its skin. It sometimes measures over 170 cm and can reach 50 kg. Its head is large, depressed, with small eyes and teeth, and the typical barbels of catfish. Its colour is light yellow-brown, going from blackish to almost white from back to belly. It has elongated black dots on the body and fins, as well as white streaks in the lateral and dorsal areas.
The spotted sorubim inhabits the basins of the Paraná River, the Paraguay River, the Uruguay River, the Río de la Plata, the Amazon, and the São Francisco River.
[edit] Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum
This fish is known as surubí atigrado (Spanish for "tiger-like", from its skin pattern) or pirá pará; in English it is simply known as tiger sorubim, Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum, formerly Silurus fasciatus). It is smaller than P. corruscans (125 cm long, 30 kg). Its body is long and thin, with a large depressed head. This fish's juvenile coloration differs from its adult coloration, but the patterning is different. In the juvenile, the fish is dark on its back with an obvious boundary between the white of its sides and belly; also, the fish lacks stripes, but has spots instead. The adult colour is brown-olive, with about 13 or 14 dark transverse bands reaching up to the belly, which is white with a few dark spots.
This species inhabits the upper and middle course of the Paraná River, and the middle Uruguay River. In the Argentine province of Entre Ríos alone, about 27,000 tonnes of surubí are obtained every year, comprising 70 to 80% of the total capture there, mostly concentrated on the fishing area near the city of Victoria, opposite Rosario, Santa Fe.
This species is by far the most popular representative of the Pseudoplatysoma genus in the aquarium hobby, where it is most often sold under the name tiger shovelnose or tiger shovelnose catfish.
[edit] Sources
- Descripción de Especies Ictícolas (in Spanish)
- Entre Ríos - Pesca comercial (in Spanish)
