Croakers, also called Drums (Sciaenidae) are a fish family that comprises about 290 species. Most of them are marine, but some occur exclusively in fresh water. In South America about 20 species and 4 genera are known to live in fresh water. The smallest among them becomes only 7 cm long (Pachypops pigmaeus), most become 20-40 cm long. They are quite abundand and important food fish.
However, none of them has been imported as an ornamental fish so far. Now we can offer for the first time a member of the genus Plagioscion from Peru. Probably it is P. squamosissimus, but it may also be the close relative P. auratus. Plagioscion are predatory fish and one should not underestimate the broad mouth! Against conspecifics the fish are peaceful. P. squamosissimus can reach a length of about 80 cm, whereas P. auratus becomes only half of that.
For our customers: the fish have code 280593 on our stocklist. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.
Lexicon: Plagioscion: ancient Greek, means “oblique scion”; Scion was the common name in hellenistic Greek for the Red mullet. squamosissimus: Latin, the word is a superlative of the adjective meaning “scaled”, so it means something like “with many, many scales”. auratus: Latin, means “golden”.
Suggestion of a common name: South American silver croaker
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
|Angaben zum Tier|
|Verfügbare Größe in cm||8-10|