Callichthys

Callichthys (Gr. kalos, 'beautiful'; ichthys, 'a fish'), a genus of physostomatus bony fishes of the family Siluridae (q.v.), having the body almost entirely covered by four rows of large, hard, narrow, scaly plates. The head is also protected by bony plates. The mouth is small; the teeth are very minute or even absent; two long barbules hang from each angle of the mouth. The twelve species of this fresh-water genus are natives of South America. When the streams or pools which they inhabit dry up, they are said to make their way across the land to some other piece of water. They may also bury themselves in the mud of wet meadows, out of which they are dug. A still more interesting habit is that of making regular nests, generally of leaves, in which they deposit their eggs, near the margin of the water, at the beginning of the rainy season. The male and female unite in watching the nests until the young are hatched. These habits are shared by the species of the allied genus Doras, in which the lateral plates are broader, keeled, and spiny.