What kind of plec is this given its shape and size

[TheDoctor]

I found this image 10 mins ago as you can see it has the shape of a Plec was wondering if anyone could guess what species it is as the head shape is very unusual

[Narwhal72]

Are you sure that's even a fish?

Where was the picture taken? It looks like waves on the surface which makes the size pretty immense for a pleco.

[racoll]

If that was in Loch Ness, I could swear that was Nessie.

Jools is our resident Nessie pleco identifier ...

[TheDoctor]

If that was in Loch Ness, I could swear that was Nessie.

Jools is our resident Nessie pleco identifier ...

it is a pic taken from loch ness the people who took the pic tried to say it was a boat but boats do not have huge pectoral fins and eyes and normally boats go above the water not beneath it and it fits with the known facts a large species that has to be a omivore that can feed on algae and plants as well as what ever fish that have died to supplement its diet as a large carnivore could not survive on loch ness'es fish stock and before today it was a theory that I had come up with some years ago to explain why they could not find the monster as a youngster and into my early teens I was fascinated by the mystery of loch ness the pics at that time had been largely faked and all looked like serpents/ prehistoric lizards etc so to actually find a picture showing a giant plec species kind of validates my theory as it seems no one but me and now you guys have spotted that it is indeed a giant plec not a wels catfish as I have seen reported on fb and tv as a wels looks nothing like a plec does it??? they have smaller and rounder pectorals and whiskers for one and for the nay sayers if it was faked would it not be made to look like what everyone perceives the monster to be eg/ a large prehistoric lizard of some sort so I think its genuine I have been trying to find if any of todays known species match it shape wise in the head dept cause what this is would be its earliest ancestor they say all the dinosuars became todays birds what if some of them went back into the water and devolved into plecs they can waddle across the bottom of the tank, plecs have amazing balance they shed there skin like reptiles, found that the gibbiceps species also the gibbiceps can change there colour to match there surroundings so imagine a pair of a plec species breeding in loch ness many many years ago imagine that between feeding this species acts like a twig catfish moving for nothing and being covered in what ever natural plants algae it would be mistaken for rocks not a living creature large shapes have been picked up by sonar but when they sent divers and cameras they found nothing but rocks it fits more then a fish eating lizard as it would of starved to death.

[husky_jim]

Very nice fake pic of a male Spatuloricaria (or a close relative) in breeding condition...

[Acanthicus]

Not sure yet if this is serious or not, but however I jump in with Rhincodoplecostomus typus. =)

[TheDoctor]

Very nice fake pic of a male Spatuloricaria (or a close relative) in breeding condition...

if it is faked then hats of to Apple as it was from their maps and it is strange for them not to go with a the more usual interpretation of what the Loch Ness Monster is thought to look like the traditional giant prehistoric lizard or serpentine shape ???? they say the truth is stranger then fiction if this is not faked then this is indeed a new unknown species of Plec @@

[matthewfaulkner]

Not sure yet if this is serious or not, but however I jump in with Rhincodoplecostomus typus. =)

Daniel, it obviously isn't a Whale shark pleco. Anyone can see it's L601. ;)

[Mol_PMB]

I just had to double-check my calendar. It's 17th July not 1st April.
This is a boat wake...

P.S. 'Nessie' is the name of one of my Synos, owing to the frequency of sightings...

[Dave Rinaldo]

Shouldn't this be in Speak Easy, at best ?

[bekateen]

If there was a giant pleco in that lake, wouldn't the lake have been filled in by now (despite its great size and depth) by pleco poop? Think about how fast our plecos foul and fill their tanks. Vacuum, vacuum, vacuum.

[Jools]

Looks like a whale shark to me.

Did you guys see this: http://news.sky.com/story/1520208/loch- ... ge-catfish

Jools

[TheDoctor]

If there was a giant pleco in that lake, wouldn't the lake have been filled in by now (despite its great size and depth) by pleco poop? Think about how fast our plecos foul and fill their tanks. Vacuum, vacuum, vacuum.

Or the poop as you put it is being used by the plants and algae as a food source and I also wonder what the nitrate and nitrite is for loch ness and if some of the fish become accustomed to the high levels it would explain why there is not many fish in loch ness as we all know another species of plec that is immune to changes in the water quality the Panaques are immune hence why we have to change the water more often as normal fish are not so hardy as said panaques are, so again your scoffing seems flawed and where they live in the wild there are no magic vacuums so what does happen to there waste ??????????? we are talking about a species of plec that pre dates all known species
to the nay sayers boat wakes are way longer and not so symetrical and boats don't have eyes and boats go on the water not under it

[racoll]

Looks like a whale shark to me.

In Loch Ness? About as likely as a giant pleco!

[Jools]

I rather thought it was something google comedians have inserted (such as the TARDIS on Earls Court Road which, using streetview, allows you to enter and it is bigger on the inside...) and so it could have any source.

Jools

[TheDoctor]

I rather thought it was something google comedians have inserted (such as the TARDIS on Earls Court Road which, using streetview, allows you to enter and it is bigger on the inside...) and so it could have any source.

Jools

No it came from Apple Maps Google did there best to discredit it saying it was a boats wake but boats wakes are way longer and not under the water lol. well when they find that it is indeed a giant plec that has baffled many scientists and experts as they keep thinking its some giant predator trying to lure it out with different meaty baits maybe they should try some really big cucumbers and courgettes and lay a camera trap to see what comes to investigate it just remember I solved this riddle back in the early 1990s way before Apple caught it on their satellite

[racoll]

I rather thought it was something google comedians have inserted (such as the TARDIS on Earls Court Road which, using streetview, allows you to enter and it is bigger on the inside...) and so it could have any source.

Sorry Jools, just I assumed you would have remembered this one! It was "big" news story a couple of years ago, I think, when Apple released their mapping service. Someone clearly with way too much time on their hands found this "creature" in the Loch Ness image tiles. Quite obviously it was a boat, but due to the way the images were composited, the actual boat bit of the image was lost, leaving this ghostly wake.

[Jools]

Ah, OK. Still is an interesting shape. Interesting also that Catfish in Loch Ness also very much in the news in the past week.

Jools

[Birger]

Ah, OK. Still is an interesting shape. Interesting also that Catfish in Loch Ness also very much in the news in the past week.

hmm I think that is Jools and Allan(Scotcat) during a Scottish holiday on a giant blowup catfish raft

Birger

[TheDoctor]

I rather thought it was something google comedians have inserted (such as the TARDIS on Earls Court Road which, using streetview, allows you to enter and it is bigger on the inside...) and so it could have any source.

Sorry Jools, just I assumed you would have remembered this one! It was "big" news story a couple of years ago, I think, when Apple released their mapping service. Someone clearly with way too much time on their hands found this "creature" in the Loch Ness image tiles. Quite obviously it was a boat, but due to the way the images were composited, the actual boat bit of the image was lost, leaving this ghostly wake.

yes Google tried to say it was a boat and a boats wake but if you go and look at pics of boats wakes they are way longer and not under the water meaning google insinuated that it was a boats wake because apple had found something they had not and again boats wakes are more delta shaped and way longer the so called wake is short and pectoral fin shaped just like that on all plec species even the eyes are in the right place for a large plec and i'd rather believe that a large unknown species of plec be the loch ness monster as the ancient sea lizard would of starved to death long ago as there is not enough fish to feed that kind of creature indefinitely there is plenty food for a plec to thrive

[TwoTankAmin]

Could it be Hokumidae photoshopia?

[bekateen]

Could it be Hokumidae photoshopia?

Genera don't end in "-idae." That suffix would indicate a family name.

[TwoTankAmin]

Sorry, it was a typo, never meant to have the e at the end. In fact, I got the last part wrong in my haste as well. The proper name is: Hokumedia photoshopii. It was originally discovered by Ripley, L. R. in 1931 but it had not been seen since until the photo in this thread.

[panaque]

I've pre-ordered a baby one to clean the pink gravel in my 60 liter tank clean because my common plec has outgrown it so I chucked it in my local lake and, oh...

[bekateen]

yes Google tried to say it was a boat and a boats wake but if you go and look at pics of boats wakes they are way longer and not under the water meaning google insinuated that it was a boats wake because apple had found something they had not and again boats wakes are more delta shaped and way longer the so called wake is short and pectoral fin shaped just like that on all plec species even the eyes are in the right place for a large plec and i'd rather believe that a large unknown species of plec be the loch ness monster as the ancient sea lizard would of starved to death long ago as there is not enough fish to feed that kind of creature indefinitely there is plenty food for a plec to thrive

I understand your interest to be quite sincere here. So with that in mind, I will point out a non-cheeky concern which has yet to be voiced about your theory: Loricariids are New World fishes, and as such there would be no ancient plecos anywhere near Loch Ness. I'm not fresh on my geological history of the Isles, but I suppose you could consider ancestors of other fish lineages native to the Northern European waters.

Cheers, Eric

[panaque]

Eric is right of course, there aren't even any native plecs in North America or Africa so the odds of finding even a normal sized one in a cold Northern European lake would be very long indeed. The lake is also y 10,000 years old - much younger than the plec family I'll wager. Another factor you haven't considered in your vegetarian fish theory is that Loch Ness is very deep and the water is brown. There is certainly not going to be enough light reaching the bottom for plants or algae to grow. A giant vegetarian would simply starve.

[Jools]

Yes, it's cold extreme black water. Not going to support a herbivore of any stature.

Jools

[TheDoctor]

Yes, it's cold extreme black water. Not going to support a herbivore of any stature.

Jools

sorry but I disagree with what you said back in my youth I won some goldfish and because my mom did not want a fishtank in the house back then they was put into a 4foot metal framed tank the water went pitch black you could not see a thing 6 years later when a accident befell the tank the fish were huge one turned out to be a koi not a shubunkin and the other was a large tailed comet they had thrived on the algae in that black lagoon with normal food being fed also on a weekly basis question do people feed the ducks etc on loch ness fish love bread why it is used as ground bait and plecs are omnivores they can eat what ever is around including any dead fish that will occur as there the question is how do the salmon get in and out to breed the same way the plecs could get in and out when they are in there juvenile stages but without the jumping I stick to my guns as a plec looks reptilian other fish are all smooth no scales and then again another question something to throw out to you all why is a blue phantom plec blue you would think that being bright blue would attract predators now think where would a blue coloration be the most useful. hmmm no one else has answered why some plecs like the gibbiceps plecs change colour and shed like reptiles can, why do they have amazing balance a sucking loach when it moves up a strand of vallis it bends down to the gravel when a plec does the exact same thing the vallis does not bend at all even though a plec is considerably larger no one has ever said which two fishes were combined to create a plec if they have please show me the two species responsible ????


also I found this on the PFK website (http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/c ... p?sid=3965)
Pterygoplichthys are found in what countries?
Exotic plecs have been officially documented in several countries, including Mexico, Puerto Rico and several states of the United States. Several Asian countries have also been affected, including Singapore, Peninsular Malaysia, Java, Sumatra, Philippines, Vietnam and Bangladesh. I’ve also been told that exotic plecs have invaded Thailand, Australia, China and South Africa.

How have they affected natural biota and various fishing communities?
Exotic plecs have been linked to freshwater fishery decline in Mexico and certain other countries, but the causes are yet to be fully understood.

If allowed to do so, these fishes become highly invasive and can reach incredible densities, so they may be crowding out the native residents.

The plecs feed on sediment and algae, so do not represent a predatory threat to adult fishes.

However, they may disrupt the nests of other species or consume the eggs of other fishes.

Feeding plecs may also indirectly compete with native fishes by displacing their invertebrate prey, or directly competing with native grazing fishes via the consumption of algae and sediment.

How have they become such successful invaders?
They are medium-sized, bony-plated fishes covered in spines and Pterygoplichthys, the predominant invasive plec in Mexican waters, breathes air and can live out of water for long periods.

Additionally, the males excavate nests and guard fry until they have reached larger sizes and can potentially avoid predation themselves.

In many countries, exotic plecs are not caught to be consumed by humans as many fear they are poisonous. Populations of these fish are therefore not monitored or controlled. meaning they can adapt to any water conditions and any food and thats from PFK so does my idea now look a lot less absurd now, the food is there for a unknown plec species to thrive on, if these alien plecs can thrive in all these different places also it would answer why the fish are having trouble to breed in Loch ness as there is something choffing on there eggs and also making the water in loch ness full of nitrates meaning only the fittest would survive the water being so high nitrate wise
also the utter failure to entice said monster with bait to come out plecs don't hunt they scavenge

[panaque]

- You cannot compare a foul neglected 4ft fish tank with a huge and very deep low productivity lake.
- So now you're saying that this thing can survive on the bread that people feed the ducks? I'd say you are clutching at straws.
- No two species combined to create a plec. That is not how evolution works. They are definitely not reptiles. Their morphology (internal and external structures) and their DNA tell us that they are a family (Loricariidae) of catfishes (Siluriformes) which are an order of ray-finned fishes. Wikipedia is a good place to start further background research: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catfish

Anyway, it seems your mind is closed to the possibility of your theory being incorrect, so I will say no more on the subject.

[Jools]

I said of any stature, that would proclude foot long omnivores.

Jools