Which Bunocephalus?

[Deb]

What banjo catfish is this? I've got it narrowed down to either B. coracoideus or B. colombianus.

A side view:

Close-up:

Full length:

Thanks!

[catfishchaos]

The smoothness of the head area (or what appears to be) makes me lean more so towards

Bunocephalus doriae

but when it comes down to Aspredinidae members I know very little, and how to properly ID members of the Bunocephalus members is beyond me.

Regards
James

[bekateen]

Hi Deb,

Yeah, I don't know for sure if it is either of the species you mentioned, but if it is, this thread is very helpful too: What type of Banjo Cat did i buy?

Cheers, Eric

[Martin S]

Hi Deb
How about

Pseudobunocephalus amazonicus

?
Martin

[Deb]

Thanks, guys. I thought I had it narrowed down, but I guess not.

After donating my banjo catfish to a local auction, I found the one banjo cat seen above buried in the sand. I guess he wanted to stay with me.

So now he is a single. Before the donation, I had had three different species of banjos - two Bunocephalus, and one Pseudobunocephalus. These had been identified here by members of the expert mod team, over the years, so I was satisfied with the IDs.

Now, it seems as if I gave away all of the Bunocephalus and, quite by chance, kept the Pseudo, as Martin suggests.

Hi Deb
How about

Pseudobunocephalus amazonicus

?
Martin

Except, at the time, the ID given was leaning towards P. quadriradiatus. @Martin S, what traits do you see that lead you to suggest P. amazonicus?

[Martin S]

Hi Deb
Based on colouration only really, so probably not the best trait!
How big is your fish @Deb ? P.amazonicus only gets to 1.8" and P. quadriradiatus 1.3" (both sizes SL).
Martin

[Deb]

@Martin S, my banjo is much bigger, about 8 cm (80 mm). No, we can't go by coloration at all. They vary a lot among themselves, from chocolate brown to the lightest cafe au lait.

Now I'm inclined to go with

Bunocephalus doriae

mentioned by catfishchaos earlier. The banjo in question came from the shop of a guy who travels often to Uruguay on collection trips. Unfortunately, there's only one photo in the catelog to judge by.

[catfishchaos]

@Deb it was the only Buno that had a golden spotted pattern along the lateral line area but like every else said colour has got to be the worst reference for banjo ID.

[Deb]

Thanks, again, All.

I'd like to try one last time with these two photos of the ventral side; oftentimes for Bunocephalus we are asked to provide a view of the coracoides so that is what I tried to do here.

Ventral view 1.

Ventral view 2.

To me, these bones look rather short.