Flat Pleco w/Wide Head

[JasonGoneFishing]

Found this guy at the LFS today, got it for $29. Was marked as Redfin Uruguay Pleco which I know it wasn't so since I don't have this species yet I snagged it up. He is 9", very flat with a wide head. Photos aren't the best at the moment but once we gets used to his new home I hope to get some better photos but this is what we have to work with.

[bekateen]

Maybe

Lasiancistrus

? (I'm just guessing randomly)...

Lasiancistrus tentaculatus

is often available in the USA, but it does not approach 9"... Maybe

Lasiancistrus heteracanthus

does, if you are including the tail in the 9" length.

L033

is the closest I can place them to Uruguay, based on the CLOG maps.

I agree better photos will help.

Cheers, Eric

[pleco_breeder]

Hard to really tell from the pics, but the caudal doesn't look to be forked which would discount Lasiancistrus. Body does look very similar though.

Larry Vires

[nvcichlids]

Why couldn't it be a

Hypostomus commersoni

?

[bekateen]

Why couldn't it be a

Hypostomus commersoni

?

The common name matches. However, the fish above appears to have pale spots on a dark body, but commersoni appears to have dark spots on a pale body... At least that's how it looks on my phone screen.

Cheers, Eric

[Jools]

Why couldn't it be a

Hypostomus commersoni

?

It's too flat, and also you can see where the bristles will grow around the head.

Jools

[bekateen]

On another website, somebody suggested

Dekeyseria scaphirhyncha

. The photos look close, but if the seller's common name in any way reflects correctly on collection locality (I'm not assuming it does, but IF it does), then the distribution would be way off for Dekeyseria scaphirhyncha.

Cheers, Eric

[Jools]

Eyes are too small for

Dekeyseria

.

Jools

[nvcichlids]

It's too flat, and also you can see where the bristles will grow around the head.

Jools

will grow, meaning at 9" it has yet to grow bristles? So we should be looking at ancistrus as they are the bristlenoses, and can be relatively flat.

What about a

Ancistrus sp(l071)

.. not the right distribution, but possible?

[pleco_breeder]

I think the bristles being discussed are slightly different than you're thinking. I'm very positive the fish displayed here

Neblinichthys echinasus

is not the species, but does display the bristles being discussed. There are species which become commercially available occasionally which display this trait, but they're not something you're going to find at the LFS intentionally.

At this point, the closest I can think of which remotely resembles this fish would be Hopliancistrus. However, at 9 inches, even if taken as total length, it would be the largest I've ever heard of.

Larry Vires

[JasonGoneFishing]

Here are some more pics

[nvcichlids]

Hopliancistrus sp(l171)

[pleco_breeder]

I was thinking the same, but that still doesn't account for a 9" length. Even if length is given as total, that would be a massive specimen for this species. Pattern, color, and proportions match well otherwise.

Larry Vires

[bekateen]

that still doesn't account for a 9" length. Even if length is given as total, that would be a massive specimen

No insult to the OP, but I think we've all overstated length before, one time or another (* cough * cough *)...

And get your mind out of the gutter - I was referring to fish we've sold at club auctions!

Cheers, Eric

[Jools]

I can't see the interopercular three thorn structure you'd expect in

Hopliancistrus

, you'd need to pick it up to be sure. On the rostrum spines,

Pseudancistrus

grow them when sexually ready and drop them seasonally. I am not sure what this species is, so not discounting any of the suggestions - but I'd go for the genus I mention.

Jools

[JasonGoneFishing]

OK so it wasn't 9" but very close, 8 1/4".

[Acanthicus]

Heho

thats Dekeyseria scaphirhyncha.