This species is known only from the Río Marañón in the upper Amazon basin, Peru, and probably occurs in some tributaries draining into Peru from Ecuador. The are beautifully spotted with a faded band across the body. This is the "Bolt". This species will eat fishes small enough to fit in its capacious mouth and is aggressively territorial towards conspecifics so is best-maintained as a single specimen in a community of larger, ideally fluvial, species.