Second Unidentified Synodontis from the Lufubu River, Zambia

[MarkSmith]

Here is the second one from the same river, Lufubu River.

[Birger]

This second I am thinking Synodontis macrostoma but again without books at hand.

Are you able to give the lengths of these fish?

Nice to see these syno's Mark, second time within a year someone has been asking about these southern species great to see they are being collected.

Birger

[MarkSmith]

Thanks for your input Birger. Your tentative IDs seem reasonable at this point. The 1st species is about 10 cm total length, while the 2nd species is about 8 cm total length.

If they are S. nebulosa and S macrostoma, then AC Aquaculture did not collect them near Lake Tanganyika, but rather closer to their compound much further south of the Lake, or else these two species (if they truly are S. nebulosa and S. marcrostoma) were actually caught close to the Lake, and thus have a more northerly distribution than Seegers indicates in his book, The Catfishes of Africa.

[Birger]

If they are S. nebulosa and S macrostoma, then AC Aquaculture did not collect them near Lake Tanganyika, but rather closer to their compound much further south of the Lake, or else these two species (if they truly are S. nebulosa and S. marcrostoma) were actually caught close to the Lake, and thus have a more northerly distribution than Seegers indicates in his book, The Catfishes of Africa.

I was just looking up the Lufubu River as I was thinking this distribution was a little odd, I would like to see how it may be connected somehow to the south, the other thread I mentioned said those fish were collected from the Kafue River but were very similar if I remember correct.

Birger

[MarkSmith]

At this point, I keep thinking that the Lufubu River pours into Lake Tanganyika in Zambia, since a very nice color variant of Altolamprologus compressicepts ocassionally is exported with the name Lufubu attached to it. Of course, I am only able to go by what AC Aquaculture indicated, and it is possible that they are giving incorrect collection locality information.

[andywoolloo]

why does he keep lying on his side in the pictures? is he ok , he is very pretty.

[Birger]

but rather closer to their compound much further south of the Lake,

That would make much more sense, it would most likely be closer to something that is in the Zambezi drainage.

[MarkSmith]

True. I will see if I can get more info out of AC Aquaculture as to a more precise collecting locality on them. In the meantime, I'm beginning to think they were really caught near their compound, further south of the lake and not near it.

[Birger]

Again with literature in hand I am sticking with Synodontis macrostoma...from the Kafue river most likely.

why does he keep lying on his side in the pictures? is he ok , he is very pretty.

I am guessing it is being photograhed in a specially built photo tank, narrow and in this case no cover...and yes these are great little synos I hope more make it out sometime, especially towards my direction

Birger

[Shane]

Mark,
Count the dorsal rays. S. macrostoma is the only Syno from that area with D I,6. All others have D I,7. Looks like 6 in the photo to me but I cant be sure.
-Shane

[Birger]

Mark,
Count the dorsal rays. S. macrostoma is the only Syno from that area with D I,6. All others have D I,7. Looks like 6 in the photo to me but I cant be sure.
-Shane

Good spot Shane...I counted six as well from what I can see.

[MarkSmith]

S. macrostoma it is then! Thanks fellows for all your wisdom and technical prowess!!

[MatsP]

Mark,
Count the dorsal rays. S. macrostoma is the only Syno from that area with D I,6. All others have D I,7. Looks like 6 in the photo to me but I cant be sure.
-Shane

If I said something along those lines on Ancistrus, someone would point out this applies to "the currently described species..."

I'm not saying the ID is wrong, but using "There is only one that has xxx" assumes that ALL species are known and accounted for... And there is always a chance there are some that haven't been discovered/described yet.

--
Mats

[Birger]

If I said something along those lines on Ancistrus, someone would point out this applies to "the currently described species..."

I'm not saying the ID is wrong, but using "There is only one that has xxx" assumes that ALL species are known and accounted for... And there is always a chance there are some that haven't been discovered/described yet.

Ahh yes but using your Ancistrus example we still use the number of soft rays in the dorsal as a significant tell for

Ancistrus dolichopterus

even though there may be a "chance" there are others that may have this as well.

There is always the chance there is yet another species but in this case the amount of rays were used to confirm what had already been identified by other means so as a confirmation I am good with that, and still looking forward to other opinions.

In what is considered the south there are not a lot of species of fish when compared to many other areas of Africa, the chances of finding a "new" species is a little slimmer I would think even though I would welcome it.

Birger

[worton[pl]]

Hello,

well looks like my ftp server get closed so photos are unavailable. However this fish looks exactly like mine.
Here you can see photos:
http://www.suephoto.com/index.php/galeria/index/5/460
http://www.suephoto.com/index.php/galeria/index/5/461
http://www.suephoto.com/index.php/galeria/index/5/462

just let miniatures to fully download before you start browsing .

[MarkSmith]

Thanks for the links Warton!

It looks like you got in the same species as did Blue Chip Aquatics via AC Aquaculture. The next time you make contact with AC Aquaculture, would you be willing to ask them precisely where they caught these Synodontis??

Many thanks in advance!