King Tiger Pleco (Hypancistrus sp. “L066”)

Catfish from the Rio Xingu

This fish is known throughout the aquarium trade as a “King Tiger Pleco” though using this name is deceiving because this title blankets 6 different hypothetical species. This specific variant is from the Rio Xingu in Brazil. It is a male and was purchased from the whole seller as “wild-caught”. The mature males will grow whiskers (odontodes) and their pelvic fins will become sharp with bristles. These fish do have sucker mouths though you will not see them grazing on algae very often. Instead, they scavenge on various meaty foods they can find in the wild, usually at night. They also have a row of teeth.

An Undescribed Species

This hypothetical variant is currently undescribed. It was originally thought to have been in the genus of Pecktolia and is labeled as (S43066-3/4) “L 066 Peckoltia sp ‘KING-TIGER-PLECO'” in the 1995 edition of ^​1​Aqualog Loricariidae all L-Numbers. This means it has not been given a recognized scientific name and as a result, there is no information on how threatened this possible new species is at this current time. The fish illustrated is a hypothetical variant known as Hypancistrus sp. “L066”. This variant is very similar looking in comparison to another hypothetically proposed variant, number L-333. There was a an article published in the book, ^​2​“Zebrafish” with 9 supporting authors that concluded both of these variants have the same DNA though they have different black stripe patterns. We will likely see this fish synonymized with another fish or become its own species. It is possible that a new species could be erected for it to be synonymized with or it could be declared a sub-species though this is unlikely in my opinion.