Hoplias malabaricus (Bloch 1794)

Ceríaco, Luis M. P., Santos, Bruna S., Semedo, Thiago B. F., Garcia, Lucas Canes & Moreira, Cristiano Rangel, 2023, The fish collection of José Mariano da Conceição Veloso (1742 - 1811) and the beginning of ichthyological research in Brazil, with a taxonomic description of the extant specimens, Zootaxa 5391 (1), pp. 1-85 : 28

Hoplias malabaricus (Bloch 1794)

Extant specimens: MCUC ZOO.0000024 ( Fig. 15a ) and MCUC ZOO.0000059 ( Fig. 15b ).

Classification on the specimen: “P. Abd. Cyprinus niger ”.

Common names on the specimen (Portuguese/Tupi): Traira (see comments).

Comments: This species was undescribed at the time Veloso prepared it. Given that the species’ name is an unknown name, it is reasonable to assume that Veloso had the intention of naming this species. There is a description of this species in Ichthyologia Fluminensis. In the Ajuda’s inventory, a total of 25 herborized specimens are cataloged under the genus Cyprinus . However, there is no mention of Cyprinus niger specimen in the transference document to the University of Coimbra. The transference documentation to the Lisbon Academy of Sciences mentions four specimens (not found), identified as Syprinus [sic] niger . The common name “traíra”, which is still used today to refer to this species, is inscribed on different sides of each herbarium sheet. This could suggest that Veloso was uncertain regarding the name’s origin. In the Ichthyologia Fluminensis, the name is spelled as “trayra.” According to Navarro (2013), “traíra” originates from the Tupi word “tare’ira”. It is worth mentioning that on the bottom left corner of one of the herbarium sheets (ZOO.0000024), a small pencil inscription with the word “ Barbus ” is present. Barbus Daudin 1805 is a genus of freshwater fishes that does not occur in South America and exhibit significant morphological dissimilarities from H. malabaricus . Hoplias malabaricus is a species complex and occurs in most drainages of South America ( Guimarães et al. 2021).

Order Siluriformes

Figures

FIGURE 15. Hoplias malabaricus (Bloch 1794); a: MCUC ZOO.0000024, 230 mm SL; b: MCUC ZOO.0000059, 225 mm SL. Photos by Luis M. P. Ceríaco.