Vandellia cirrhosa
By ania southerland
Where does vandellia cirrhosa live?
Vandellaia lives in the amazon and Orinoco river basin in northern South America
description (size}
Very small, slender fish, 2.5 cm long, possibly longer, with a width of 3.5mm on average. Scaleless, translucent. Has short, sharp, spines on its gill covers
What are the host that it feeds on and what are the special adaptations ?
Vandellia prefers fish that are bigger than its actual size. The adaptions they go through are they live in freshwater,and it bury itself in sandy rivers or stream bottoms when not feeding.
how does it feed and reproduce ?
When a fish opens its gill cover to expel water, the vandellia enters, lodges itself using its spines, bites off the tips of the host's gill filaments, gorges itself with flowing blood, and drops off to the bottom. The entire process takes 30 to 145 seconds. Scientists are not sure how they reproduce.
interesting facts
1)this fish is normally a parasite to other fish.
2)when the fish knows what it wants to prey on it will go in circles for at least 4 sec.
3)these fish can be harmful to humans
4)they live in south america
citations
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Vandellia#intro {vidio}
animals.jrank.org/.../Catfishes-Siluriformes-CANDIRU-Vandellia-cirr...