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Scientific Name Chiloglanis frodobagginsi  Schmidt, Friel, Bart & Pezold, 2023
Common Name
Type Locality Niger River, north of Faranah, on road N29, Guinea, 10.28382°N, 10.76925°W.
Pronunciation Kee low glan iss
Etymology Chiloglanis: From the Greek cheilos, meaning lip, and glanis, meaning catfish; in reference to the oral morphology. Roughly 3,000 miles (4,800 km) separate C. frodobagginsi in the upper Niger River drainage and C. micropogon, the sister species, found in the Congo River basin. Another seemingly closely related species, Chiloglanis cf. micropogon, is found in the southern Benue drainage and in several small coastal rivers about 3,000 km from the upper Niger River drainage (e.g., Cross and Ndian Rivers). It is unclear whether these species are descended from a more widespread species, or the result of dispersal from the Congo River basin into the Niger River drainage, via the Benue River, and then up to the headwaters of the Niger River. This species is named after another diminutive traveller, Frodo Baggins, a fictional character well-known from J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy and wider Middle Earth legendarium. It is in reference to the incredible journey such a small and seemingly non-vagile fish has made.
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Identification The second largest catfish genus in Africa after Synodontis. They are characterized by jaws and lips modified into a sucker or oral disc used for adhering to and feeding upon objects in fast-flowing waters. Generally reasonably small at 100 mm SL or less. species with forked caudal fins can show sexual dimorphism and is usually species-specific. Other characteristics in this hard-to-ID genus are the size of the adipose fin, the position of the adipose fin relative to pelvic and ventral fins, size of barbles, eyes and dorsal fin. Only a handful of species are identified on colouration. They can be distinguished from other African suckermouth catfish (of the genera Euchilichthys and Atopochilus) by their circular suckermouth disc. This is more elliptical in the other two genera.
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Distribution
African Waters, Nigeria Waters, Niger, Upper Niger (click on these areas to find other species found there)

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IUCN Red List Category Not Evaluated
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Breeding Reports There is no breeding report.
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Reference Ichthyology & Herpetology v. 111 (no. 3), pp 382, Fig. 6.
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Last Update 2024 Feb 26 12:48 (species record created: 2023 Jul 31 15:57)