PlanetCatfish.com

Hi. Recently the importers in New Zealand have imported starlight plecos.
Nice fish but they are only about 3.5 - 4 cm. While they look like L183 some have 8 soft dorsal rays and some 9.

When I look at the PC blog for this species it says they have '9' soft rays but when I look in the L-catfishes book it says they have '8-10'.

A translated page for L-welse says:
“The best distinguishing feature between “L 71 / L 181 / L 249” and “L183” is the number of soft rays in the dorsal fin. While most catfish of the genus Ancistrus have 7 soft rays, the “L 71 / L 181 / L 249” have 7-8 soft rays, while the “L 183” have 8 – 10 soft rays. As a rule, there are 9 soft rays at L183.”

If they mainly have 9 soft dorsal rays but can have 8-10 soft dorsal rays would it be worth updating the blog to avoid even more confusion with L71?

cheers

Darren

For the time being at least, they (L071/L181/L 249/L183) should all belong to the same species: .

Ancistrus dolichopterus, as described, can have either 8 or 9 branched (soft) rays in the dorsal fin. As stated, most other Ancistrus have 7.

There is variation, for sure, so possibly they could be split in the future, but that would take a big sample size from a lot of localities to understand the variation better.

Thanks Racoll. Nice to know that the original description of Ancistrus dolichopterus has 8 or 9 branched (soft) rays.
So a range of 8-10, but normally 9, as in the German website seems reasonable. It seems like a reasonable idea to update the species page to reflect this.