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I was at the LFS looking at a shoal of unidentified catfish that had 3 pairs of rictal bristles. I thought this would be helpful, because Ian's book had mentioned this characteristic for some fish. When I got back home, I discovered this was mentioned only in reference to some long-nosed catfish. What I had been looking at weren't long-nosed fish.

I think the fish I was looking at were C. schwarti. They were deep-bodied, with irregular bands of spots down the sides, a black mask, and a creamy dorsal fin spine. They were shoaling in mid-water, with only an occassional excursion to the bottom of the tank.

So now I am wondering, is the presence or absence of a third pair of rictal bristles a useful feature in any group other than the long-nosed group?

Cheri

This is an image of C. septentrionalis, which shows the small third rictal barbel. I think you may be confused with the small barbels in the centre of the lower lip. which can be seen here in C. virginiae.


There are only four species and these do indeed belong to the long nosed group. These are C. amapaensis, C. simulatus, C. septentironalis and C. geoffroy. Perhaps it would be better to state the these species have four pairs of barbels.

Ian

Yep, I was mistaken. Thanks for the clarification, Ian.

Cheryl