Naked Characin

Entirely naked (scale only shown on lateral line in specimens > 5 cm TL; head profile obtuse. Color is dark brown, greenish, the belly is cream; there is a copper-colored band on the flanks (Ref. 35685).

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 12; Analspines: 0; Analsoft rays: 19

Medium sized fish considered to be the most southern characid living in temperate waters. Young with very tiny soft and delicate scales which are reabsorbed into the skin making the skin greasy and often with granulated or spongy appearance (Ref. 7252).

fisheries: of no interest; aquarium: commercial

Gymnocharacinus bergi Steindachner, USNM 313878, 3, 34.5–44.3 mm; Argentina, Provincia Río Negro, Estancia El Rincon

Hemibrycon dariensis Meek and Hildebrand, USNM 293245, 2, 44.0–57.4 mm; Panama, Darien, Rio Pucuro.

Gymnocharacinus bergi, 30

gyrospilus, Creagrutus, 2, 48, 113–116

Hemigrammocharax, 36

Hemiodus, 23

Hemistichodus, 19

Hepsetus, 23

hildebrandi, Creagrutus, 2, 63, 65

holmi, Creagrutus, 2, 48, 77, 116–119

Hoplias, 23

hujela, Ctenolucius, 27

hysginus, Creagrutus, 2, 48, 77, 119–122, 208

Ichthyborus, 19

ignotus, Creagrutus, 2, 48, 122–125

Iguanodectes, 19, 29

iheringi, Bryconamericus, 21, 29

ilsea, Roeboides, 27

innesi, Paracheirodon, 12

intermedius, Nannocharax, 34

kunturus, Creagrutus, 2, 48, 125–128

lassoi, Creagrutus, 2, 48, 77, 116, 128–131, 134

lateralis, Alestes, 21, 29

lepidus, Creagrutus, 2, 48, 77, 130, 131–134

Osteologia y lepídologia de Gymnocharacinus bergi (Pisces Characidae). Limnobios, La Plata, 2(7):491–512

Myers, G.S.

1927. Descriptions of New South American Fresh-Water Fishes Collected by Dr. Carl Ternetz. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 68(3):107–135.

1928. New Fresh-Water Fishes from Peru, Venezuela, and Brazil. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series 10, 2:83–90.

1958. Trends in the Evolution of Teleostean Fishes. Stanford Ichthyological Bulletin, 7(3):27–30.

1960. The South American Characid Genera Exodon, Gnathoplax, and Roeboexodon, with Notes on the Ecology and Taxonomy of Characid Fishes. Stanford Ichthyological Bulletin, 7(4):206–211.

Myers, G.S., and T.R. Roberts

1967. Note on the Dentition of Creagrudite maxillaris, a Characid Fish from the Upper Orinoco-Upper Rio Negro System. Stanford Ichthyological Bulletin. 8(4):248–249.

Nelson, G.

1969. Gill Arches and the Phylogeny of Fishes with Notes on the Classification of the Vertebrates. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 141 (4):475–522.

1973. Relationships of the Clupeomorpha, with Remarks on the Structure of the Lower Jaw in Fishes. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, London. 53(supplement):333–349.

Nielsen, J.

1974. Fish Types in the Zoological Museum of Copenhagen. 115 pages. Copenhagen: Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen.

Ortaz, M

1992. Habitos alimenticos de los peces de un rio de montaña neotropical. Biotropica. 24(4):550–559.

1997. Ciclo reproductivo de Creagrutus bolivari (Pisces: Characidae) en Venezuela. Revista de Biologia Tropical, 45(3): 1147–1153.

Ortega, H.

1992. Biogeografia de los peces de aguas continentales del Peru, con especial referencia a especies registradas a altitudes superiores a los 1000 m. Memorias del Museo de Historia Natural, U.N.M.S.M., 21:39–45.

1996. Ictiofauna del Parque Nacional Manu, Perú. In D.E. Wilson and A. Sandoval editors. Manu. The Biodiversity of Southeastern Peru. pages 453–482. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.

Ortega, H., and R.P. Vari

1986. Annotated Checklist of the Freshwater Fishes of Peru. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology. 437:1–25.

Orti, G., and A. Meyer

1997. The Radiation of Characiform Fishes and the Limits of Resolution of Mitochondrial Ribosomal DNA Sequences. Systematic Biology, 346(1):75–100.

Ouboter, P.E., and J.H.A. Mol

1993. The Fish Fauna of Suriname. In P.E. Ouboter, editor. Freshwater Ecosystems of Suriname, pages 133–154. The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Ovchynnyk, M.M.

1968. Annotated List of the Freshwater Fish of Ecuador. Zoologischer Anzeiger. 181:237–268.

Patterson, C.

1975. The Braincase of Pholodophorid and Leptolepid Fishes with a Review of the Actinopterygian Braincase. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, series B, 269:275–579.

Pavlov, D.S., V.K. Nezdoliy, A.K. Urteaga, and O.R. Sanches

1995. Downstream Migration of Juvenile Fishes in the Rivers of Amazonian Peru. Journal of Ichthyology, 35(9):227–248. [Originally published in Russian in Voprosy Ikhtiologii, 35(6):753–767.]

Pearse, A.S.

The naked characin (Gymnocharacinus bergii) is a small species of fish in the family Characidae. It is the southernmost member of the family (together with some Cheirodon species from Chile) and the only member of the genus Gymnocharacinus. It is endemic to a stream near Valcheta in northern Patagonia, Argentina. Adults have no scales. It is endangered because of habitat loss.