182 FISHES OF WESTERN SOUTH AMERICA 
partly united with the labial apparatus, forming an oral sucker; mental and nasal 
barbels not present; teeth absent, or hooked and lobed at the distal extremity; 
active teeth in a single series; premaxillaries disjoined, box-like, and filled with 
numerous relay teeth; dentaries similarly disunited and similar in structure; palate 
edentulous; fontanels wanting in frontal and occipital. 
Dorsal fin abdominal, and not connected with the occipital; adipose usually 
present, consisting of a spine with a thin membrane; gill-membranes united to the 
isthmus, openings wholly lateral; intestine very long and greatly recoiled. 
Subfamily: HYPOSTOMATINAE 
Tail short; caudal peduncle compressed, cylindrical, or moderately depressi- 
form; haemal spines all simple; lower, and fourth upper, pharyngeals without teeth; 
belly naked, or at most with minute, granular plates; intestinal canal of extravagant 
length. 
The fishes of this subfamily are rather generally known under the colloquial 
name carachama. Despite their forbidding exteriors they are surprisingly found 
to be favorite food fishes on the part of the inhabitants of the lowlands. This I 
learned is due not to any superiority in flavor, but rather to the ease with which 
the meat may be scooped out of the armor when boiled and served entire, together 
with boiled rice or plantains. This convenience is regarded as more than fair com- 
pensation for the strong, rancid flavor, for which a toleration must be acquired. 
These fishes were taken in unbelieveable numbers in the quieter backwater 
bayoux, in water often shaded by the forest and brown with fallen vegetation. 
Their vitality is remarkable. Many of them, taken in seines and thrown into the 
dugout canoes, were found alive and vigorous many hours later. Although the 
skin would be entirely dry, the gills were at least moist. They invariably found 
the wettest place on the bottom of the boat and assembled there. While the canoe 
was under way, the puddles of water would sometimes run from side to side or end 
to end, and all the carachamas turned and followed it back and forth. With the 
flat, inferior mouth and wide lips closely applied to the timbers, they could suck up 
a few drops of water, enough to keep the gills from drying out altogether. 
The vocal powers of the Hypostomatinae are not inconsiderable. While on 
the bottom of the boat they emit grunting sounds which enhance the pig-like be- 
havior described above. 
Senor Medina said to me, ‘‘Son Inglés. Hablan muy abajo en la garga.” 
“They are English. They speak very far down in the throat.” 
Before leaving for South America, Miss Siebenthal, the artist, had said, ‘Dr. 
Eigenmann has brought us a lot of good fish stories. He found fishes walking, 
others climbing. You will have to find them talking.’’ And so it came about. 
Genus 73: CANTHOPOMUS Eigenmann and Allen, gen. nov. 
Plecostomus Gronow, 1754, Mus. Ichth., I, 24, (in part); 
Gronow, 1763, Zoophyl., 127; 
Bleeker, 1863, Neder]. Tijdsch. Dierk., I, 77, braszliensis. 
