The Rio Vaupés – the Spanish spelling – or Rio Uaupes – the Portuguese spelling – is a “small” right-bank tributary of the Rio Negro. After all, the “little one” has a length of 1,375 km! It rises in Colombia in the foothills of the Andes and forms the state border with the Brazilian state of Amazonas about 150 km downstream from Mitú, where it flows into the Rio Negro about 40 km south of Icana.
Aquarists have long known that the Rio Vaupes is home to many special species. Among them are four armored catfish, which have only become known in recent years: Brochis sp. CW 89 (long-snouted, relatively narrow dorsal band), Hoplisoma sp. CW91 (round-snouted to CW 89), Brochis sp. CW106 (long-snouted, wider dorsal band and shorter snout than CW89), Hoplisoma sp. CW107 (round-snouted, wider dorsal band than CW91). They are all found in Colombia, approx. 40 km east of Mitú, at least according to the exporters.
Unfortunately, the distinguishing features mentioned are not really constant. The more animals you see, the more intermediate forms become recognizable, as is also known from other Rio Negro Corydoras. The width of the dorsal band in particular varies enormously. That’s why we don’t differentiate between CW91 and CW107 in the trade.
Now we have received particularly attractive animals, which correspond much more to CW 107 due to the very broad back band.
For our customers: the CW 91/CW 107 have code 236114 on our stocklist. Please note that we only supply the wholesale trade.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
