Synodontis schall look alike

Did you know fantastic help is an anagram of Planet Catfish? This forum is for those of you with pictures of your catfish who are looking for help identifying them. There are many here to help and a firm ID is the first step towards keeping your catfish in the best conditions.
Post Reply
Kryptic
Posts: 32
Joined: 27 Feb 2021, 17:34
My cats species list: 15 (i:11, k:10)
Spotted: 16
Location 1: Finland
Location 2: Espoo

Synodontis schall look alike

Post by Kryptic »

I got this guy about 4 years ago in a Nigerian import with a name Synodontis sp. "Nigeria". The problem is that I don't know whether the fish was actually caught in Nigeria and thus given the name sp. Nigeria or was it caught elsewhere and just imported from Nigeria. I don't remember all the fish that were in the shipment but there were fish from all over Africa.
I originally tought this would be S. schall but since the fish hasn't grown larger than 17cm SL I don't think it is schall. Both Synodontis oumeensis and kogonensis would be otherwise good options but both of those species have more dorsal and anal fin rays than my fish. S. macrops has crossed my mind but I just don't think it is macrops.
Attachments
IMG_5391[1].JPG
IMG_5388[1].JPG
IMG_5341[1].JPG
IMG_5335[1].JPG
IMG_5333[1].JPG
User avatar
Jools
Expert
Posts: 15978
Joined: 30 Dec 2002, 15:25
My articles: 197
My images: 944
My catfish: 238
My cats species list: 87 (i:13, k:1)
My BLogs: 7 (i:7, p:202)
My Wishlist: 23
Spotted: 447
Location 1: Middle Earth,
Location 2: Scotland
Interests: All things aquatic, Sci-Fi, photography and travel. Oh, and beer.
Contact:

Re: Synodontis schall look alike

Post by Jools »

It reminded me of at first. I can't really see the caudal fin. @Birger and @Dave Rinaldo are pretty clued up on these things.

Jools
Kryptic
Posts: 32
Joined: 27 Feb 2021, 17:34
My cats species list: 15 (i:11, k:10)
Spotted: 16
Location 1: Finland
Location 2: Espoo

Re: Synodontis schall look alike

Post by Kryptic »

Here are some more pictures I've got of him over the years. Although these pics are not the best for many reasons (mostly because they are taken with flash so they don't show the true colour of the fish) you can see some details like the fine spots on the upper half of his body and some of the markings on the caudal fin. You can also see how the fish has developed over time. I also did do a recount of the anal fin rays while loking through these pics and I was able to count 11 so that would actually match the descriptions of both Synodontis ouemeensis and kogonensis. So my question is does that dorsal filament count as a dorsal fin ray? If so then this might be a S. kogonensis.
Attachments
True colour 12-14cm SL
True colour 12-14cm SL
5-6cm SL
5-6cm SL
5-6cm SL
5-6cm SL
15cm SL
15cm SL
12-14cm SL
12-14cm SL
User avatar
Birger
Expert
Posts: 3870
Joined: 01 Dec 2003, 05:04
My articles: 10
My images: 112
My cats species list: 49 (i:43, k:0)
Spotted: 35
Location 1: Edmonton,Alberta
Location 2: Canada

Re: Synodontis schall look alike

Post by Birger »

I have had a couple of these in the past, I am still not sure exactly what they would be...I had one male with very long pectoral first rays...the other seemed identical except for this feature of the first ray.They were a great fish to keep .
Birger
Post Reply

Return to “What is my catfish?”