Description of the skull of Bramocharax caballeroi Contreras & Rivera 1985 (Pisces, Characidae), endemic fish to Catemaco Lake, Veracruz, Mexico.

Abstract

The Bramocharax genus is distributed from Central America to Mexico. Until now the species known are Bramocharax bransfordi collected in Nicaragua and Costa Rica, B. dorioni and B. baileyi from Guatemala and B. caballeroi from Catemaco Lake, Veracruz, Mexico. The aim of this work is to realize a detailed description of the skull for Bramocharax caballeroi from the analysis of 37 different topotypes. The skull of this species has 58 osteological elements, 49 of them coupled. Shape is oval in lateral view, because the bones of the snout (ethmoid, vomer, lateral ethmoid, dentary, maxillae, premaxillae, ecto and mesopterygoids) and the frontal and circunorbitals are elongated. The dorsal margin is slightly concave and the anterior part is elongated. In specimens less than 80 mm, all the bones are smoother, with more regular edges. With the age increase, they become more robust with more irregular edges. A comparison of the skull between B. caballeroi and Astyanax mexicanus resulted in 25 bones with differences, while with Astyanax fasciatus, main contrasts were the supraoccipital length, the shape of the opercles and the infraorbital 3. In addition there are important differences in the dentition, gill rackers, as well as suspensory pharingeals and pharyngeal plates with respect to Astyanax.