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Description

This weeks's prompt was Siluriformes' behaviors, so I decided to draw the complex nesting building habit of the fishes from the genus Hoplosternum.

The caborja or tamuatá ( Hoplosternum littorale ) is a South American freshwater catfish that inhabits swamps and slow flowing waters and developed a complex nest building behavior where the male usually builds a dome like nest with plants, where the eggs are alid inside and protected from the low oxigen water by a thick layer of foam. The male also protects it aggressively and keeps the nest from falling apart.

My main sources for this illustration were:

Hostache, G., & Mol, J. H. (1998). Reproductive biology of the neotropical armoured catfish Hoplosternum littorale (Siluriformes—Callichthyidae): a synthesis stressing the role of the floating bubble nest. Aquatic Living Resources, 11(3), 173-185.

Oyakawa, O. T., Akama, A., Mautari, K. C., & Nolasco, J. C. (2006). Peixes de riachos da Mata Atlântica:: nas unidades de conservação do Vale do Rio Ribeira de Iguape no Estado de São Paulo.

Description

This weeks's prompt was Siluriformes' behaviors, so I decided to draw the complex nesting building habit of the fishes from the genus Hoplosternum.

The caborja or tamuatá ( Hoplosternum littorale ) is a South American freshwater catfish that inhabits swamps and slow flowing waters and developed a complex nest building behavior where the male usually builds a dome like nest with plants, where the eggs are alid inside and protected from the low oxigen water by a thick layer of foam. The male also protects it aggressively and keeps the nest from falling apart.

My main sources for this illustration were:

Hostache, G., & Mol, J. H. (1998). Reproductive biology of the neotropical armoured catfish Hoplosternum littorale (Siluriformes—Callichthyidae): a synthesis stressing the role of the floating bubble nest. Aquatic Living Resources, 11(3), 173-185.

Oyakawa, O. T., Akama, A., Mautari, K. C., & Nolasco, J. C. (2006). Peixes de riachos da Mata Atlântica:: nas unidades de conservação do Vale do Rio Ribeira de Iguape no Estado de São Paulo.