Cyphocharax is a genus of small to medium characiform fish in the family Curimatidae, found across South America's major river systems — the atlas's 46 species are recorded from Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, French Guiana, Paraguay, Suriname, Colombia and Ecuador. Sizes range from 1.5 in up to 10.5 in. Curimatids are detritivores and algae-grazers rather than predators: most species have reduced, weak teeth or none at all, and feed by sifting organic sediment and biofilm from the substrate, a role that makes them ecologically important recyclers of nutrients in the river systems they inhabit, often moving and schooling in large numbers.
Cyphocharax attracts far more attention from ichthyologists documenting South American river faunas than from aquarists — the atlas records common names for only a handful of the 46 species, among them the golden mascara tetra (C. multilineatus) and dwarf curimata (C. microcephalus), and even those appear in the trade only sporadically rather than as hobby staples. Conservation status is reassuring for most of the genus: the atlas tally is led by Least Concern (26) with a large share Not Evaluated (17), and only single Near Threatened, Vulnerable and Endangered listings, consistent with a group of small, widely distributed, fast-reproducing detritivores rather than narrow-range specialists.