Taxonomy & naming
Curculionichthys sagarana was described by Roxo, Silva, Ochoa and Oliveira in 2015, in the paper that erected the genus Curculionichthys (ZooKeys 534, 'Description of a new genus and three new species of Otothyrinae'). The genus belongs to the subfamily Hypoptopomatinae within Loricariidae.
The Catalog of Fishes (Eschmeyer, CAS) is the authority for valid names. The authority is correctly given as Roxo, Silva, Ochoa & Oliveira, 2015 — the fourth author is Ochoa, not Zawadzki; FishBase's CoF-derived authority file confirms the full citation 'Roxo, F.F., G.S.C. Silva, L.E. Ochoa and C. Oliveira, 2015'.
Morphology
Curculionichthys sagarana is a very small loricariid, reaching about 1 in standard length. The genus name itself points to the diagnostic head shape, derived from Latin 'curculio' (weevil, in reference to the elongated snout) combined with Greek 'ichthys' (fish). As a hypoptopomatine, the body is armoured with rows of bony plates and the mouth is a ventral sucker. Diagnostic meristic and osteological detail distinguishing it from congeners is given in the original 2015 description; finer detail is not summarised in the secondary sources consulted.
Habitat
The species occurs in South America — Brazil, in the Rio das Velhas drainage of the Rio São Francisco basin. It is a freshwater, demersal fish of tropical waters. Specific physico-chemical data (temperature, pH, conductivity) for the type locality are not reported in the available sources.
Feeding
Diet is not specified in the available sources, and the species is noted as being of no fisheries interest. Hypoptopomatines are typically small biofilm and algae grazers, but no feeding study specific to Curculionichthys sagarana has been published, so its diet remains undocumented.
Mating
No data on courtship or mating behaviour have been published for Curculionichthys sagarana.
Breeding
No data on reproduction, spawning mode, clutch size, or parental care have been published for this species.
In the aquarium
Curculionichthys sagarana is not part of the ornamental trade and is essentially absent from aquarium keeping. No husbandry information is published, and none is offered here to avoid speculation.
Conservation
The IUCN Red List assessed Curculionichthys sagarana as Least Concern in 2020. The species is of no fisheries interest. As a small-bodied endemic of the Rio das Velhas drainage within the São Francisco basin — a system affected by water abstraction, mining, and pollution in parts of its range — its long-term status is tied to the condition of those headwaters, but no specific threats to this species have been documented.