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You're looking at a group of catfish that were interested in our canoes as we were loading up one morning.  

Catfish are some of the most varied and most abundant fish in the Amazon River basin.   In fact, there are over 1,000 species of them that live in northern South America.  

 

Catfish have four sets of barbels, their whisker-like appendages.   These help them find and locate prey through detecting vibrations in the water.   Catfish are also distinctive, because they don't have scales like most other fish.   Instead they have skin-like covering, which actually helps them breathe.   However, some catfish have bony plates that serve as protection from predation.