Found in the Rio Gongogi and Rio Gavião, tributaries of Rio de Contas, a relatively small coastal drainage in Bahia, northeastern Brazil. Possibly endemic to the Rio de Contas drainage as extensive ichthyological collecting efforts through all of the main coastal rivers across Bahia in recent years failed to yield samples of this species from outside the Rio de Contas drainage. Occurs in small rivers with relatively slow currents and somewhat turbid water and also in shallow areas of a reservoir along the Rio Gongogi. These areas have muddy substrates to some degree, with mud particularly prevalent along the Rio do Banco where large amounts of decomposing vegetation covered the river bottom (Ref. 85320).