Otocinclus affinis vs arnoldi vs sp. ?

[fabrizio]

Hello here,
I am trying to understand if there is any difference between the Otocinclus Affinis, the Otocinclus Arnoldi and the Otocinclus Sp.. Really I don't understand where is the difference between them, from the pictures they all look equal. The local pet store nearby has the Otocinclus Arnoldi one but they can't tell me if it is the same of the "Affinis" or the "Sp." (that, also, I have not idea what Sp. stands for...).

Any help and/or thoughts are very welcome!

Thank you.

Best,
Fab.

[Pure]

I did a little digging on Arnoldi as I was not familiar with that Sp (Sp=s species) Planet catfish doesn't have it listed as an SP it show up as a Synonym(s) for Otocinclus flexilis, the peppered Oto. Affins and flexilis are clearly different species looking almost nothing alike.

How ever doing a google search for Pictures of Arnoldi shows pictures of the more commons species of Oto listed on planetcatfish. So I think there may be some confusion with that Sp and your LFS is caught up in it.

Otocinclus Sp is simply a species of Oto that is undescribed by science but is obviously a Otocinclus genus.

Otocinclus =s Genus, Affinis/flexilis =s Species

Anyways. What's important is care and diet for all the Otocinclus Sp is the same.

Here is a list of Oto Sp
PlanetCatfish • Cat-eLog • Thumbnails of species

[fabrizio]

Thank you Pure, that's really weird because just yesterday I bought one of those "Otocinculus Arnoldi" in my locat pet store and it looks exactly like the Affinis or the Vestitus one. Please, see the attached picture (I took it this morning). How does it look?

Thank you again.

Fabrizio.

[Pure]

A few of the Sp are very similar making Identification very difficult. Other than small hard to see differences in shape and different locations of collection I don't know what they base the scientific name on.

I could try to ID it for you but I need a better side profile of the fish. I need to see the slope of the snout and hight of the dorsal area. Even then like I said an Id is going to be very hard. I can't tell much about the shape of the fish from the angle in the picture you provided.

[fabrizio]

Thank you for your help. Please, see the attached pictures, I hope they will help you better.

Best,
Fab.

[Pure]

I'm stumped! It could be any one if the Sp listed. I just can't see enough of a difference in shape to be able to call it.

Sorry

[fabrizio]

Exactly! Same problem to me! Well, I assume they are the same fish

Thank you for your efforts.

Best,