# S.altuvei



## memento (Jun 3, 2009)

One of the common characters used to ID S.altuvei from S.compressus, are the body spots.
As we've all learned, in S.altuvei the spotting is sparse below the lateral line.
Please correct me if I'm mistaken...

However the distinction between the two species is described by Jégu and dos Santos in _Serrasalmus compressus, une espece nouvelle du Rio Madeira, Amazonie (Pisces: Serrasalmidae)_
First problem with this work is, the actual drawing of S.altuvei wasn't S.altuvei at all, but S.hastatus.
A second problem I have with it, is that there is no reference to the original holotype of S.altuvei.

S.altuvei is described by Ramirez 1965 in _Serrasalmus altuvei un neuvo Serrasalmido para la fauna Neotropical_
There ain't much for a description, but the drawing of the holotype is remarkable :










As far as I can see, the description "spotting sparse below lateral line" refers ONLY to juvenile specimen. In bigger specimen, the spotting is there as shown in the holotype drawing.
Only character usefull for differentiating S.compressus from S.altuvei, is the shape of these spots, not the amount below the lateral line.
Compressus is spots and bars, altuvei is oval spots.​


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