Ichthyomys

Icthyomys stolzmanni

The authentics fish rats ( Ichthyomys ) are a living in northern South America rodent genus from the group of rats fish within the New world. They include four types.

In the shape and size of these fish rats resemble the actual rats ( Rattus). Their body length is 11 to 21 centimeters, added 15 to 19 cm tail. The weight of the largest kind, I. tweedii, is around 120 grams. The coat is wiry and rough, it is olive-brown on the upper side, gray or black, the underside is white. The body is streamlined and flattened. The wide rear feet are webbed. Eyes and ears are small and almost hidden in the dense fur.

These animals are primarily located in northern South America, their range extends from Panama through Colombia to Venezuela and Ecuador, and Peru. Their habitat is rivers and streams and wetlands at altitudes 600-2800 m.

They spend the day mostly hidden under rocks. Your food you are looking for in the water, they feel with their whiskers on, they pack with their front paws and kill them with the sharp incisors. Despite their name, their diet consists mainly of insects and crustaceans and only in large individuals also from small fishes.

There are four types:

• Ichthyomys hydro bates lives in western Venezuela, Colombia and northern Ecuador.
• Ichthyomys pittieri occurs only in northern Venezuela. The species is named after the Swiss naturalist Henri Pittier and applies IUCN as threatened ( vulnerable ).
• Ichthyomys stolzmanni inhabited the eastern Ecuador and Peru.
• Ichthyomys tweedii lives in Panama and Ecuador.