Classification / Names
Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa
Teleostei (teleosts) >
Characiformes (Characins) >
Characidae (Characins; tetras) > Stethaprioninae
Etymology: bonita: Named for its type locality, Baía Bonita; noun in apposition.
Eponymy: Dr William J Moenkhaus (1871–1947) was an American geneticist and ichthyologist who became Professor of Physiology at Indiana University Medical School (1904–1941), where he was Eigenmann’s colleague. [...] (Ref. 128868), visit book page.
Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Ecology
Freshwater; pelagic; depth range 0 - 1 m (Ref. 51265). Tropical
South America: known only from its type locality in the upper Rio Miranda, Brazil.
Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 8.5 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 122736); max. published weight: 7.70 g (Ref. 122736)
Dorsal soft rays (total): 11. This species differs from other congeners, except intermedia and dichroura by the following combination of characters: presence of a black posterior margin on each caudal-fin lobe, and presence of a black lozenge-shaped pigment blotch on the caudal peduncle that extends to the posterior limit of the median caudal-fin rays; the short 7 gill rakers on the upper limb of the first gill arch distinguish bonita from the 2 similar species that possess 10 elongate gill rakers on the upper limb an d18 on the lower limb of the first gill arch (Ref. 51265).
Collected in marginal backwaters with low current speeds (about 0.1 m/sec) in up to 1 meter depth. Occurs primarily near the water surface, swimming in schools up to 10-30 individuals. Stomach contents and observations indicate that this species feeds mainly on terrestrial insects (dipterans and coleopterans) from the surrounding riparian forest. The insects are captured via surface picking and drift feeding (Ref. 51265).
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae
Benine, R.C., R.M.C. Castro and J. Sabino, 2004. Moenkhausia bonita: a new small characin fish from the Rio Paraguay basin, southwestern Brazil (Characiformes: Characidae). Copeia 2004(1):68-73. (Ref. 51265)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-2)
Threat to humans
Harmless
Human uses
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Estimates based on models
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref.
82804): PD
50 = 0.5000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01148 (0.00597 - 0.02209), b=3.04 (2.88 - 3.20), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & Genus-body shape (Ref.
93245).
Trophic level (Ref.
69278): 3.4 ±0.5 se; based on size and trophs of closest relatives
Resilience (Ref.
120179): High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref.
59153): Low vulnerability (10 of 100).
