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I received this guy about a year ago in a shipment of Syno. angelicus. Any ideas on what type of syno he might be?

Thanx, Nate

Pardon the smudges I forgot to clean the glass before taking the picture
I'll try and get some more pics of him.

This has all the characteristics of S. aterrimus.

My first reaction was that this is a juvenile S. eupterus (again), but the head is too long and the humeral process is the wrong shape to be S. eupterus. The head and humeral process shape, plus the color pattern matches that of S. aterrimus.

If it came in with a shipment of S. angelicus (and presuming the importer did not mix fish indiscriminately), then it is also unlikely to be S. eupterus, since it is not found in the Congo River drainage (but S. angelicus and S. aterrimus are).

How big is the fish anyway?

At fist glance I though Synodontis tourei.

That was my first guess too after looking through my aqualog book, it was the closest match I could find. He is about 10cm SL and he has maintained the same pattern since he was about 4cm. I have some more pics uploading and waiting for approval, they are a little clearer. Thanx for verifying it for me

Nope, S. tourei has a smaller adipose fin and a different humeral process (the dorsal edge being more concave than the fish in the pic).
At 10 cm, I would say with a fair amount of certainty that it is the fabled S. aterrimus.

Here's a few more pics of him, they're a little bit clearer.



I luv gettin contaminants in shipments, now if I could only get my hands on some Brachyrhamdia rambarrani.

Still looks like S. aterrimus to me (Jools, can we use any of these for the Cat-eLog?).
FWIW, most of the pics of S. tourei in Aqualog are actually S. eupterus.

I have one of these which is around 17cm. I will try and email a picture for the cat e log so more sizes of the fish are shown.

iT'S cool looking, whatever it is

STINGRAY wrote:I have one of these which is around 17cm. I will try and email a picture for the cat e log so more sizes of the fish are shown.

Yes, please do email me the pic(s). I have another picture that should add to it.

Cheers,

Jools

I cant see the Pictures!






Graeme.

For now, I'm lumping all these fish in as Synodontis sp(5). Perhaps they are all S. aterrimus, but the picture in Sands confuses the issue - maybe that is the real S. atterimus?

Jools