Scleronema (fish)

Scleronema is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Trichomycteridae, the pencil and parasitic catfishes, these catfishes are found in South America. They are a member of the subfamily Trichomycterinae. Species of Scleronema are geographically distributed in the La Plata basin and Atlantic coastal drainages from Southern Brazil, Southern Paraguay, Northeastern Argentina and Uruguay. They inhabit rivers or streams with sand or gravel-bottoms across the Pampa grasslands. In Greek, Scleronema means "hard thread".>