L-?

[Wasp]

My nephew caught these L's in a fast running river in the Ecuadorian Andes. Any idea about the identity?

[MatsP]

Looks like some sort of Ancistrus, but they are all pretty similar pattern.

--
Mats

[Simon86]

I'd say some type of Chaetostoma sp.

[The.Dark.One]

The position of the eyes (far back on the head) remind me more of Chaetostoma or Dolichancistrus

[Rabbit]

A dentition shot would help.

[Suckermouth]

Since it was collected directly, if you could provide a specific river name that would help immensely...

[nvcichlids]

Chaetostoma dorsale

[fishboy20]

I agree that a river system would help, along with a photo of dentition. I also agree with the Dark One of which Genera to look at.

Jeremy

[Wasp]

These are the only available pictures, but they were caught in the Inchillaqui River near Tena in the Napo province.

[Suckermouth]

According to the ol' google machine that's a Napo River tributary, so it flows eastward off the Andes. Did he get any other plecs while he was there...? I agree it's part of the Chaetostoma group. I know Chaetostoma platyrhyncha/Cordylancistrus platyrhynchus is from the Napo but it has a fully plated snout, which is not the case in the pictured fish. I'm not finding much information in Ferraris (2007) for described species of Chaetostoma species being from the general area so it could very well be undescribed. Cat-eLog only pulls up one Chaetostoma species when you search the Napo as the distribution, and it doesn't look like the pictured fish either. In other words I have no clue.

[Shane]

Inchillaqui River near Tena in the Napo province.

I collected around Tena back in 1999, but was on the main river itself and did not come across and Chaetostoma spp.
Unfortunately, Ecuador is one of the least studied Andean countries from an ichthyology standpoint. There is a better than fair chance that this species has yet to be described.

The resource to start with, I do not have it on hand, would be

1987 Stewart, Barriga e Ibarra, Ictiofauna de la cuenca del río Napo, Ecuador Oriental: Lista Anotada de especies. Vol. XII, (4): 9-64, Politécnica, Quito.

-Shane

[Suckermouth]

Well somehow I missed it, but

Chaetostoma dermorhynchum

is listed from the Napo in Ecuador in Ferraris (2007) and is the only described Chaetostoma species listed in Stewart et al. (1987); Stewart et al. additionally lists "Chaetostoma sp. 1-3" which I assume means there are 3 other undescribed species (I can't read spanish). There aren't any pictures I can find on the internet of this fish besides specimens of the syntype series that have lost all their color. The shape doesn't look like they quite match up. I agree with Shane's point that it's probably undescribed.