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in the Rio Apure drainage. The paucity of specimens available from other river 

 systems, and the widely disjunct gap in the Amazon basin from which no specimens 

 were available, is perhaps due largely to poor collecting efforts in the intervening 

 areas. Presumably, the species is more widespread in the upper reaches of the 

 Amazon basin. 



Etymology 



From the Latin vittatus, meaning bound with a ribbon or striped, alluding to 

 the prominent dorsal and midlateral stripes on the body. 



Ecology 



Aspects of the ecology of this species have been investigated by Otto Castillo 

 (Estacion de Investigaciones Pesqueras, San Fernando de Apure, Venezuela), but 

 the results of his study have not yet been published. The species feeds 

 predominately on other fishes and invertebrates, especially decapod crustaceans (L, 

 Nico, personal communication). 



In the Rio Apure of the middle Orinoco basin, seminuptial males (123-168 

 mm SL) were in reproductive condition, as evidenced by hyperossified barbels, from 

 early March to late May, a period coinciding with the onset of the rainy season in 

 that area. 



One collection in the Beni drainage of Bolivia, taken in late August, had 3 

 seminuptial males ranging in size from 170 to 179 mm SL. 



Kopke (1986) described courtship, spawning behavior, and oviposition of 

 internally fertilized eggs in captive individuals of this species, - 



.-^-'■v 



