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Royal Panaque Facts
- The Royal Panaque constitutes a recently discovered species within an extraordinary fish genus. We currently know of only seven known species in this rather unique animal genus.
- Like all the other incredible species contained in the genus, this one classifies as what many have given the name of armored catfish.
- Without a doubt, the most astonishing characteristic of this recently discovered animal remains the nature of its rather highly unique diet.
- This amazing and truly surprising fish also ranks as one of only a handful of fish species that actually consume wood.
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Royal Panaque Physical Description
The Royal Panaque does not possess scales as most other fish do. In fact, the body of this unique creature grows encased in relatively heavy armor.
Yet, the lone exception to this protection remains the underside, which appears soft. That, therefore, represents the Achilles Heel of the animal.
In coloring, the Royal Panaque appears principally a light gray. Horizontally oriented dark gray squiggles run the length of the body.
The animal also attains an average length of roughly 17 in (43 cm). Due to the weight of its armor, it remains a poor swimmer.
However, the animal does possess a powerful sucker-like mouth, which it uses to cling to rocks or submerged logs.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Siluriformes
Family: Loricariidae
Genus: Panaque
Species: P. nigrolineatus
Royal Panaque Distribution, Habitat, and Ecology
The recently discovered, and rather fascinating, Royal Panaque evolved as endemic to the large river basins in the countries of Colombia, Brazil, and Venezuela.
More specifically, these river basins consist of the enormous, and vitally important, Amazon River Basin, and the Orinoco Basin, in South America.
Remarkably, this creature remains herbivorous in nature with one unique adaptation. It consumes not only algae but also feeds on wood.
Rather specialized bacteria in its digestive tract make this possible.
Species Sharing Its Range
Check out our other articles on Pacu, Phallostethus Cuulong, Arapaima leptosoma, Hagfish
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