Petit dent-chien
Acestrorhynchus microlepis
About
The petit dent-chien, also called the pike characin, is one of the freshwater barracudas: a lean, toothy fish that makes its living chasing down other fish. It grows to 37 cm and 230 g. Look for it in black and clear water streams and rivers, and in lagoons and backwaters off the main channel. It likes a slow current over silt or sand, and it copes with a wide spread of temperature, from 18 to 28 C.
Also known as: yellow tail cachorro, yellow tail barracuda
- Length
- 37 cm
- Weight
- max 230 g
- Temperature
- 18–28 °C
How to tell it apart
Slim silver predators are the hard group in these rivers, and several share the same water. Use the shoulder, just behind the gill cover. On this fish the mark there is tiny, no more than a dot, and it is easy to miss. So a lean, long-snouted predator carrying only a pinprick on the shoulder rather than a bold blotch is the one you want.
Appearance
The body is long and narrow, the shape of a fish built to accelerate rather than to hover. The snout is drawn out, and it can take up as much as half the length of the head. The eye is small for that head. The scales are fine and numerous, which gives the flank a smooth, almost polished look rather than a coarse pattern.
Did you know?
It is a strict fish eater for most of the year and will take nothing else. In the dry season, when the water drops, it breaks that rule and turns to insects instead.
Log it in Into the Blue
Describe what you saw and we name it, then keep every species you find in your Oceandex.