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measuring plecos

Posted: 11 Apr 2005, 14:41
by sodapopdima
Hey all, I was browing the cat-e log and always see people giving measurements of their pleco's - SO... I was wondering

What is the typical measuring standard if there is one to measure a pleco?

Is it from the inside body not counting the tail to the tip of the mouth or is it from the tip of the mouth to the tip of the tail?

Also, is any of these indictive of how the cat-e log measures as a standard?

Posted: 11 Apr 2005, 14:50
by Dave Rinaldo
Maybe THIS will help.

Posted: 11 Apr 2005, 14:50
by MatsP
There are two "standard" measures for fish in general, including the Cat-eLog:
Standard Length (SL): From the tip of the nose to the end of the "body", just as it turns into the tail-fin.
Total Length(SL): From the tip of the nose to the end of the tail-fin.

Measures given in the Cat-eLog are almost always "Standard Length". This is a better measure for fish that are either variable in tail-fin length, or where the fish may have been damaged during the catching (more important for scientists and wild-caught specimens than for aquarists).

Most aquarium/fish-books give "Total Length" measurements.

Quite often, the proportions of size for the purposes of scientific identification and such, for instance the size of other fins, eyes, mouth, etc, is in percent of the standard length. So for example, the eye of the fish is 7.2-8.3% of SL.

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Mats