Species: Leptophilypnus fluviatilis, Freshwater sleeper
head scaleless
opercle blue spot, belly 3 dark bars
Leptophilypnus fluviatilis Meek & Hildebrand, 1916
Freshwater sleeper
Elongate, body not much deeper than wide at front, compressed at rear; eyes near top of head, distance between them about equal to eye diameter; mouth large, oblique, and lower jaw prominently projecting; bones of lower jaw broad, meeting under rear edge of mouth, leaving an oval, naked area on chin; teeth small, pointed, in bands, none on center of roof of mouth; no preopercular spine; gill opening extending forward nearly to vertical from rear margin of eye; 6-7 short lower gill rakers, not overlapping when depressed; gill membranes broadly joined to throat, with 6 rays; dorsal fin VI + I, 9, base of 2nd dorsal < distance from the end of that base to tail fin; anal fin with I spine; pectoral 18-19; branched tail rays 11(11-12); pelvic fins I, 5, long, completely and widely separate; head, nape, and breast without scales; scales on trunk rough; 28-34 scales in lateral series; no lateral line.
Body pale tan with 4-5 prominent horizontal oval dark blotches on sides from pectoral fin to tail base, the last one largest and round; belly with 3 dark bars under the front three flank blotches; back with 4 dark saddles; nape and head mottled; a bar under eye, oblique stripe from eye to upper jaw connecting with stripe on other side, oblique stripe from rear of eye to preopercle; a blue spot on the lower 1/3 of the opercle; 1st dorsal fin with stripe above base and another along its edge, 2nd dorsal with several stripes; anal fin dusky in males, no pigment in females; pectoral base with spots on top and bottom; pelvic fins unpigmented in females and young males; tail fin with 4-5 narrow dark bars; adult males with more intense body and fin colors, the anal fin reddish with a blackish border; the pelvics dark grey.
Reaches 7 cm.
Habitat: freshwater and estuaries.
Depth: 0-5 m.
Distribution: Panama to Honduras; has passed through the Panama Canal and been collected in the lower Pacific-side locks.
High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
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- Brackish
- Freshwater
- Non Marine
- Inshore/Offshore
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- Inshore Only
- Inshore
- Water Column Position
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- Bottom
- Habitat
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- Mud
- Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
- Estuary
- Freshwater
- Sand & gravel
- Soft bottom only
- FishBase Habitat
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- Demersal
- Feeding Group
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- Planktivore
- Data
- Diet
-
- Data
- Zooplankton
- Egg Type
-
- Data
- Benthic
- Pelagic larva
- Global Endemism
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- All species.
- West Atlantic Endemic
- Greater Caribbean endemic
- Regional Endemism
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- Continent
- All species..
- Caribbean endemic
- Continent only
- GC endemic
- Residency
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- Resident
- Climate Zone
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- Equatorial (0-10N, Costa Rica / Venezuela)
- Tropical (10-23N, Nicaragua / Cuba)
- IUCN Red List
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- Least concern
- Listed
- CITES
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- Not listed
- Length Max
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- 7
- Depth Range Min
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- 0
- Depth Range Max
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- 5
