ARKIV FOR ZOOLOGI.

BAND 4. N:o 19.

Oii Fislies from tlie Iporaiig:a Eiver,

S. Paiilo-Brasil.

By

ALIPIO DE MIRANDA RIBEIRO.

(Seeretary to the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro.)

With one Plate.

Communicated April 8t'i by Hj. Théel and E. Lönnberg.

TyphlobagTUS Kronei, nob.

Kosmos, no. 1, January-1907, with figures.

Head depressed, 4 to 4 ^i in the total length (without

caudal); mouth anterior, the upper jaw sHghtly projecting,
hps very thin, adherent, hiatus 2V"> in the head, maxillary
barbels sub-terete, in the young reaching to base of ventral,
in adult to tip of pectoral fins; post-mental barbels to preoper-
cular edge; nares tubulate; fontanel not perceptible exteriorly,
very narrow, reaching to the base of the occipital process,
a bridge across it, above the posterior edge of the orbit.
Occipital process covered by the skin, reaching to the
also
predorsal plate (and not removed from it, as it was said in
the quoted Kosmos). Eve quite absent, two linear slits in-
dicate the orbital region; distance between the slits 4 in
tliu length between the tip of the snout and the base of the

first dorsal ray; gill-openings wide, confluent in the isthmus

nåder the orbital slits. Body robust depth 4 V:* to 5 in ;

the total length; pectoral fins rounded, the spine moderate,

smooth in the anterior and serrated in the posterior edge, from the
base to the 2nd. thii'd of its length it reaches the vertical of the
;

Arl-ir för zoologi. Band 4. N:o IH. 1

2 ARKIV FÖR ZOOLOGI. BAND 4. N:0 19.

first dorsal ray; the second branched ray is the longest.

Dorsal spine smooth, with the tip not pungent, leathery;
the height of the fin greater than its base; ventral spineless,
not reaching to the anal and beginning just behind the ver-
tical from the base of the last dorsal ray; adipose large, its
origin beyond and its end behind the anal fin; anal ele-
vated, rounded; caudal lobed, the upper lobe the greater;
lateral line present. Colour ochraceous yellow on sides; upper
parts, maxillary barbels, upper side of the pectoral and ven-
tral rays,anal and caudal rays and lateral line, bluish gray;
isthmus lemon yellow belly white; sometimes the gray colour
;

is more expanded, sometimes the ochraceous yellow is almost

uniform in the whole body. In the living fish there is a

golden dot on the opercular limb and the peritoneum is
golden-silvery shining.
The longest specimen recorded 155 mm.
The teeth are distributed in a premaxillary and a
mandibulary band, as in the genera Rhamdia or Pimelodus.
The heart is very small, well protected by the anterior
peritoneal fold. The stomacb is of the syphonal type; the
intestinal tract has moderate circumvolutions ; in a female
specimen dissected, the ovarian sacs lay in the upper parts
of the caudal side of the abdominal cavity, and had ripe
eggs, almost 1 mm. in diameter. Air-bladder well developed,
reniform, lying attached to the expanded lateral process of
the anterior vertebrae, behind the head. The kidney has
its anterior part bi-lobed, crescentiform, lying just behind the

air-bladder; the posterior part follows the rachisin the me-

dian hne; the ureters are swoUen near the urogenital papilla.
The whole skin is provided with cyathiform depressions
more numerous on the head, jointly the muciferous pores.
This very interesting fish was found by the Brazilian
chemist Mr. Richard Krone, in the waters of the »Caverna
das Areias» (Sands' Cave) of the subterraneous course of the
»Ribeiräo das Areias» (Sands' River) tributary of the Ipo-
ranga River, at S. Paulo, Brazil.
Mr. Krone tells me ^ »It is amusing to see this animal,
:

the meekness of which, when attracted by the bait is surpri-

sing; it follows the hook to the surface of the water, or even

^
In litteriKS.
 ;.

MIRANDA RIBEIRO, ON FISHES FROM THE IPORANGA RIVER. 3

to the shore, in spite of the light of a candle standing about

20 centimeters from its one touches slightly
body. But, if

the water, the fish gets away very nimbly.

In a spöt where
the water was about 50 centimeters deep, I put a small
net for butterflies in order to catch the fishes, and as soon
as I put in the net small pieces of the gut of a squirrel
I had brought for the purpose, the fishes came from both
sides of the river, not only against but even with the stream,
evidently following a sensation which did not permit them to
loose much of the way for reaching the bait. It seems to
me that the oldest creatures like to live apart from the
young ones, in deeper water. In an aquarium they eat earth-
worms, never insects or vegetable matter, excepting some
algae. The water of the cave in summer, is shallow and
clear, but somewhat saturated with calcitic salts; during the
rainy season the matter must be different, in these tunnels
as the clay of the bottom found near the roof indicates. When
the water is clayey, the fishermen of Iporanga sometimes catch
blindfishes with hooks, in the neighbourhood of the entrance,
outside the cave.»
Amongst the specimen sent to me by Mr. Krone, one
is provided with an eye on one side only. Tliis fact states
the reversion by inheritance to the character of its ancestors
the organ is 4 millimeters in diameter and the fish 150
mm. long.
This very striking fact is a valuable document for the
genealogical theory of Lamarck and IJarwin, when one may
state in 35 other captured, young and adult animals, the
complete absence of such an important organ.
In the dissected animal I was not able to see the opti-
cal nerve: through its normal place passed the strong ner-
vöns branch of the maxillary barbel.
The evolution of the organ of sight does not permit dis-
cussion here. Another noteworthy fact is that evolution in
this fish only, when the lower and open course of the Iporanga
system is inhabited by many other species, the greater num-
ber of which is also found in the Parana system. As this
fact may pro ve the ancient connection of these systems, in
other times, it may also prove that all the fluviatic species,
now found in the lower course of the Iporanga, had passed
through the vicinity of the divortium aqiiarum of these systems
4 ARKIV FÖR ZOOLOC4I. BAND 4. N:0 19.

From those species I liave identified the following, kiridly

sent me by Mr. Krone:
Typhlohagrus kronei, noh.
Pimelodella transitoria, noh.
Rhamdia sebae (Cuv. & Val.)
Glaiiidium albescens, Liitk.
Xenocara stigmatica, (Eigenm. & Eigenm.)
Loricaria Urna, Kner.
» latir ostris, Boul.
Hemipsilichthys duseni, noh.
Plecostomus commersoni, Cuv. & Val.
» agna, noh.
Corydoras kronei, noh.
CallicJithys ccelatus, Cuv. & Val.
Leporinus frederici, (Bl.)
Gohiomorus maculatus (Gunther)
Carapus fasciatus (Pallas).

Now, from the great number of fishes, only the first

could live in the caves, as Mr. Krone has stated.
It is evidently a natural selection of a very striking
manner, and the fact of the exemplar bearing an eye may
also prove how persistent the inheritance is, and that the last
is able to spring in any one descendant of an evolved form,

after many generations, amidst other creatures normal to the

new kind of life.

Unfortunately, the preserving fluid in which the abnor-

mal specimen had been laid, did not permit me to inquire into
the degree of perfection of the organs; nor did Mr. Krone give
me any information aboiit its possible visual power. The
fishermen of Iporanga, as Mr. Krone tells me, gave to
Pimelodella transit07'ia the ancestral paternity of Typhlohagrus
kronei.

The two forms are, indeed, very much alike, and, if it was
not for the absence of the eyes the two must be taken as one,
the other characters being unimportant ones. As there is in the
Iporanga River no other form more closely allied, the second
must be evolved from the first, and the fishermen of Iporanga
are not wronir.
 MIRANDA RIBEIRO, ON FISHES FROM THE JPORANGA RIVER. 5

Trichoiiiycterus pimctulatus (Cuv. & Val.)

Mr. Krone sent me another fish found by him in the

Iporanga. number of species inhabiting
This fish increases the
the river and I think must solve a question of synonymy.
it

Weyenbergh has described and figured in the »Actas de

la Academia Nacional de Ciencias Exactas de Cordoba-R.A.,
vol. III, pg. 11, est. III, a Trichomycterus that he has named
cordovensis and Eigenmann & Eigenmann were compelled to
place it as a doubtful species, in their good work on »South-

American Nematognathi.»
Perugia had two specimens of the Museum of Genoa
(Annali del Museo di GenovaX2a. Ser. 638, 1892) from Sta.
Fé through Weyenbergh, he found the animals very similar
to Trichomycterus diskar: »the small difference found could be
attributed to age, for the specimens sent by the author are
young».
The figure given by Weyenbergh is also similar to that
of a young male of T. dispar, and Boulenger says: »Perugia
compare avec raison T. cordovensis å T. dispar Tsch. des Andes
du Perou.» (Bol. Mus. Tor. XII 1897). Eigenmann & Eigen-
mann spöke of T. dispar as presenting two varieties: T.
dispar Tschudi and T. punctulatus Cuv & Val.
The existence of the last variety in the Iporanga, as
may be seen from the photograph, shows that the views of
Perugia were right. But they are a fact already pointed at
by GiJNTHER in the Annals and Magazin of Natural History,
(5) vol. 6, July, 1880, pg. 12, where this author wrote: »T.
dispar Tschudi (= T. cordovensis, Weyenbergh,)»
We have preserved the name punctidatus, instead of dispar,
for the specimen we have is fully corresponding in characters
to that variety.
Rio de Janeiro, April 1907.

Tryckt den 11 juni 1908.

Uppsala 19US. Almqvist & Wiksells Boktryckeri-A. -B.

ARKIV FÖR ZOOLOGI. Band 4. N:o 19. Pl. 1.

1. 2.

1. Trichomycterus dispar, Tschudi var. punctulata, Cuv. & Val. —

2. Typhlobagrus kronei Mir. Rib:
Ljustr. J. Cederquist, Sthlm.