or vampire catfish, feared by some people for its habit of entering into the urethra of humans. Apart from the free-living, generalized predators of small invertebrates, trophic modes represented by trichomycterids include the hematophagy (feeding on blood) in Vandelliinae, the lepidophagy (scales) and mucophagy (mucus) in some Stegophilinae and necrophagy (carrion) in others, and partial algivory (algae) in Copiondontinae. Trichomycteridae include species that are active swimmers (Copionodontinae and Trichogeninae), torrent dwellers (Trichomycterinae), litter leaf dwellers (Ituglanis), and sand dwellers (Glanapteryginae and Sarcoglanidinae). Species may be restricted to elevations above 4000 m (13000 ft) in the Andes, Andean lakes, off-shore coastal islands, lowland species known only from large rapids, leaflitter puddles, and the bottom of torrential rivers. Trichomycterids are one of the most successful groups to occupy cave habitats; it contains 12 hypogean species. Such species include Ituglanis bambui, I. epikarsticus, I. passensis, I. ramiroi, and Silvinichthys bortayro. Six of the hypogean species are of the genus Trichomycterus: Trichomycterus chaberti, T. itacarambiensis, T. santanderensis, T. spelaeus, and T. uisae. References Catfish families Fish of South America Taxa named by Pieter Bleeker