‘Warrior’ creature — with ‘dark mark’ — found as new species in Brazil river. See it

Irene Wright
·2 min read

Deep in the Amazon basin, the rio Juma splits into tendrils reaching into the rainforest.

Its flow decreases the deeper into the trees it extends, leading to small ponds filled with sand, dead leaves and forest debris tucked under the surface.

In one of these blackwater ponds, a small fish navigates the crowded water searching for things to eat.

A group of researchers found the fish there and took a closer look at the “dark mark” lining its peduncle, or back fin region.

It was a new species.

The scaled creature was part of the genus Cyphocharax, a small group of fish that live throughout South America, the researchers said in an April 5 study published in the journal Neotropical Ichthyology.

“The extremely elongated dark mark on the caudal peduncle is the defining morphological feature of (the new species),” the researchers said.

The new species was identified by a “dark mark” on its peduncle, or the back of its body toward a fin.
The new species was identified by a “dark mark” on its peduncle, or the back of its body toward a fin.

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The fish also has a rounded head, olive-colored to silvery scales, and a “deep-lying, dark” and “faint” stripe running the length of its body, according to the study.

The river the fish calls home is an affluent of the rio Madeira, “one of the largest and most species-rich” river systems in the Amazon basin, the researchers said.

More than 800 fish species have already been described from the waters, according to the study, but the new species stands out for more than just the color splotch on its side.

The fish has olive-colored and silver scales, and a hidden stripe down the length of its body, the researchers said.
The fish has olive-colored and silver scales, and a hidden stripe down the length of its body, the researchers said.

The species was named Cyphocharax orion, not for the dark mark, but for “strength, bravery and universe brilliance,” the researchers said.

Orion, meaning “heaven’s light” or Arion, meaning “warrior,” comes from Greek mythology, according to the study.

“Orion was a giant hunter who, after being killed by Scorpion sent by Earth mother Gaia, either Zeus or Artemis placed in the night sky as the constellation Orion,” the researchers said. “The Orion Constellation contains the Great Orion Nebula, one of the brightest nebulae in the visible sky, and the Orion’s Blet asterism formed by three bright blue supergiants: the triple star system Alnitak, the major star Alnilam, and the multiple star system Mintaka.”

The fish was discovered in a blackwater pond on a river in the Amazon Basin.
The fish was discovered in a blackwater pond on a river in the Amazon Basin.

Just as those stars come in sets of three, the fish comes from the three major river systems in the southern Amazon, the researchers said.

These rivers face anthropogenic, or human-caused, forces that threaten the species they contain, so to live and survive there is an act of a warrior – even for a fish.

The rio Juma is in north-central Brazil.

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