L168

[onlyme]

I've seen 3 different genii (hope thats the correct colective of genus) used to decribe these fish. Would someone like to tell me the story please?

Craig.

[Ged]

My understanding is that L168 is Dekeyseria brachyura (Kner, 1854).

It also goes under the synonyms Ancistrus brachyurus and Peckoltia brachyura and some of the older books had it listed as Peckoltia pulcher. It was even assigned to a pleco genus Zonancistrus but this has not been accepted for scientific usage.

[wormboy]

Nomenclature is a rather plastic affair and names can be changes regularly as new revised classification systems come into play. In actual fact D. brachura (I think this is the most recent and widely accepted name) is a good example of this with more than a few different scientific names which Ged has exhaustively posted up. Its ironic though that one of the least scientific names, one which was designed to be temporary is the one we, I at least, most commonly associate with this fish i.e. L168, go figure.

-Mat-

ps I think genii is a race of aliens on Stargate Atlantis . The plural of genus is genera.

[Alan]

Just to complicate things a little bit further,,, L052 and L16***???? no number allocated. Are these the same fish ???

Not an unreasonable senario, the same species, different colour varieties, different localities,,,,,just like the Australian rainbows.

[ppanther]

It seems that 52's and 168's are almost the same fish - only the 52's tend to develop spottier less defined patterns as they get older where as the 168's tend to remain striped. Personally I'm under the belief that they are the same species just different morphs. Same thing with cats/dogs etc where a specific breed can have multiple coat patterns. You will probably find that given they come from two seperate rivers that occasinally merge during flood seasons that they have just developed to reflect their environment and predators.

Personally I prefer the 168's as when they are in a good mood their stripes become extremely well defined similar to other stripey plecs such as the much sought after zebra. Just comes down to personal preference though - and you will find that aside from patterning both classifications require condtions and behave identically.

[onlyme]

THanks Guys, I am grateful.

Craig.

ps: Isn't genera plural and genii collective? Like timber and timbers? meaning several species rather than several species?

[wui39]

You get catfish now Craig....now if we can only convince you of the wonders of aros........

[wormboy]

Ah, I understand the mistake, genii is the plural of genius not genus.