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My best guess is

It looks like a Multipunctatus Hybrid to me.
Anybody else?

I'm pretty sure it's no hybrid, but I doubt that it's S. courteti. Your specimen has 2 black bands in the tail, which courteti isn't supposed to have.
Perhaps that feature caused the previous poster to suggest a Multi hybrid?

just went through ther entire Syno section and frankly: I'm stumped.....

if it had more spots, I'd say nigromaculatus, but it just doesn't fit right.

enigma

I'm going by a picture in the Fischer Atlas, labelled Synodontis courteti, which looks just it--including the bands on the tail.

I got it in a shop in London for £5.00. It was a fish that somebody brought in--the shop didn't know what it was originally supposed to be. The colour balance in my pic isn't very good. It's actually a light buttery yellow colour.

Jools, Silurus et al., any opinions? I've put it into MyCats as a courteti, but I'll change it if someone comes up with a better match.

I don't know what it is, but I don't think courteti.
All the pictures of courteti I've seen have white leading edge on pectorals.

It's starting to look unlikely that it's a courteti.

sidguppy wrote:just went through ther entire Syno section

Thanks for your effort. I've been all through ScotCat as well, and still can't find it; the main problem is the bars on the tail.

Your specimen has 2 black bands in the tail, which courteti isn't supposed to have.
Perhaps that feature caused the previous poster to suggest a Multi hybrid?

Well yes that and also the head shape and the position of the barbels and the fact that round my way
these are regularly sold as Multipunctatus "Gold" from the czech republic.

Floody wrote:[ and the fact that round my way these are regularly sold as Multipunctatus "Gold" from the czech republic.

Hey Floody,
Well, I don't have to warn you for you already mentioned the term "hybrid" in your first post. Nevertheless, if you want genuine Synos, stay away from anything that has a Czech-made label .

Floody wrote: these are regularly sold as Multipunctatus "Gold"

In that case I may have a hybrid, but at least I saved a lot of money. They go for twelve times what I paid.

I don't think its eyes are gold, though. I'll check next time it comes out to feed.

This is a bit similar but with smaller spots

S.cf.caudovittatus

I think that's it, allowing for variation in spot size. It's the only one I've seen where the tail looks right. The barbels also are a good match.
I missed it because I didn't go through the black and white drawings.

Most likely that old atlas pic of courteti is actually caudovittatus.

Come to think of it, 'caudovittatus' actually means 'striped tail,' doesn't it?

Come to think of it, 'caudovittatus' actually means 'striped tail,' doesn't it?

Yes thats right. The only Syno's, if my memory serves me right, to have the same markings in the tail apart from the Lake Tanganyika Syno's, are pleurops, rufigiensis, sorex and voltae.

Chrysichthys wrote:My best guess is

Synodontis courteti

According to the revision by Poll, the fish cannot be S. courteti. The ratio of eye diameter and the length of the nose is wrong. The fish scotcat posted a picture of looks like a proper S. caudovittata, but the unknown fish doesn't have the correct body shape, it's too narrow. The adipose fin is too low, and the processus humerale is too narrow.

I suspect the fish in question is a hybrid.