Through The Looking Glass

 

1. Looks like some sort of armored catfish, of the South American variety.  My guess is that it is a plecostomus, which is a common aquarium fish that has been turning up here in the States as an invasive species.

   Posted by gb_in_ga       02/13/2007  at  08:29 PM  



2. That fish looks like a giant cockroach!

   Posted by lisar915       02/13/2007  at  09:36 PM  



3. Well, usually the dorsal fin is intact (the forward 2/3rds of the one pictured is tattered), and it is kinda covered with mud and such.  Even then, they are some uh, homely fish.  If it wasn’t that they were good at cleaning up algae they wouldn’t be so prevalent in the aquarium trade. And yes, I’ve got aquariums and yes, they have plecos in them.

   Posted by gb_in_ga       02/13/2007  at  10:00 PM  



4. Hmm --- from what I can tell, the term “carachama” is the common name for any one of a number of very similar armored catfish (it is a catch-all term, like how the term “perch” here in the States can refer to any number of sunfishes and true perches), of which the term “plecostomas” also refers, even though there are specific species that are actually correctly called plecostomas.  And even then it is muddled, seeing as how some of those which were previously correctly referred to as plecostomas are now referred to as hypostomas.  Or something like that.  Taxonomy in the armored catfish realm is vague at best.

   Ah, let’s just say that it is a fairly typical armored catfish and leave it at that…

   Posted by gb_in_ga       02/13/2007  at  10:39 PM  



5. Oops—I misspelled plecostomus, an easy mistake to make.  Funny thing is, I’ve seen them referred to by both spellings.

   One thing that makes me think that this fish is one of those from the aquarium trade is that from what I can tell, that bird that is chowing down on it is a Great Blue Heron which is, for the most part, a resident of North America. The various armored catfish, like the one which is being eaten, are native to South America.  That leads me to believe that the picture was taken in North America and the fish being eaten is not a native fish to the water pictured.

   Posted by gb_in_ga       02/13/2007  at  11:08 PM  

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