Bleeding Heart Tetra

The bleeding heart tetra was first formally described as Hemigrammus erythrostigma in 1943 by the American zoologist Henry Weed Fowler, with its type locality given as "probably" the border area between Brazil and Peru. This family is classified within the suborder Characoidei of the order Characiformes.

The bleeding heart tetra is classified in the genus Megalamphodus, which is Greek and means "with spacious ways", a name coined by Carl H. Eigenmann which he gave no explanation for. It may be an allusion to the "very large" fontanels, the frontal bones being described as "entirely separate", that is, with a space between them and the parietal bones. The specific name, erythrostigma, means "red mark" or "red spot", an allusion to the vermilion humeral spot.

The bleeding heart tetra is found in the western part of the Amazon basin in Brazil, Colombia and Peru. It is found in floodplains and large tributaries, where the water varies from clear to slightly stained.

The bleeding heart tetra is one of the most popular fishes in the aquarium trade, and almost all the fish featuring in that trade are captive-bred.