Pleco's???

[Ben]

Just out of a amtter of interest, why are some pleco's have funny lettering eg,

Zebra Pleco L 46

i just wondered..................

[kevkoi]

Easy one.. :lol:

"L" stands for Loricariidae which is the family of suckermouth catfish species.

Theser fancy cats are being discovered in the amazon faster than the scientific community and taxonomist can scrutinise, identify and propperly name them, hence any new variation is assigned an "L" number until it has been named.

L046 is the zebra pleco's number. Scientifically, Hyspancistrus zebra. Which would u rather remember? The scientific name or the L-number?

Even after the fish has been given it's propper scientific name, the L-number sticks as it is far easier especially for hobbyist.

Similar thing occurs in Corydoras species. They are assigned a "C" number.

HTH

[Ben]

Cheers, Kev!
So basically in saying all of that, people are still discovering new types of pleco's? (the L series! lol)

Wow! Thats amazing!

[kevkoi]

Every year to 2 years, Aqualog (basically the Aqualog series is the bible for all L-number catfish fanatics) comes up with sticker updates for their book.

The book I have is I believe the latest and it has 259 pages of photos of L-numbered catfish. There is about 6-8pages at the back with allocated spaces for the sticker updates to go onto. These are spaces for catties that have still yet to be discovered, which they are certain will get filled in the next 2years or so.

There's still so much we don't know out there!!

So many beautiful creatures.