Pseudoplatystoma is a genus of large predatory catfish in family Pimelodidae, the "shovelnose" or sorubim catfish of South America's major river systems, found across Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Colombia, Ecuador, and French Guiana. The genus is defined by an elongated, flattened, spade-shaped snout and a boldly patterned body of stripes, bars, or spots depending on species - the atlas's three, P. corruscans (spotted sorubim), P. fasciatum (barred sorubim), and P. reticulatum (reticulated sorubim), range enormously in reported size, from roughly 23.5 in up to a genuinely massive 71.5 in.
These are apex river predators of real ecological and economic importance - Pseudoplatystoma species are among South America's most heavily fished food fish, sold widely under local names such as surubi or pintado, and the genus is also farmed and hybridized commercially. In the aquarium hobby they belong strictly to the large-predatory-catfish niche favored by dedicated monster-fish keepers: even a juvenile quickly outgrows an ordinary home tank, and housing one responsibly to adult size requires a pond-scale system. One atlas species is rated Near Threatened, reflecting pressure from overfishing and river damming across its range.