Synopsis by Erwin Schraml
This paper should be of great interest to aquarists. One interesting finding was that the authors finally found an argument that describes why the bristles (tentacles) in Ancistrusare as they are. The authors theorize that females prefer to spawn with males who are already guarding larvae and that the bristles were developed to mimic larvae in an otherwise empty nest.
Reference: Sabaj M., J. Armbuster, & L. Page. 1999. Spawning in Ancistrus (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) with comments on the evolution of snout tentacles as a novel reproductive strategy: larval mimicry. Ichtyhol. Explor. Freshwaters, 10 (3): 217-229.
