Loricariidae

Loricariidae is the largest family of catfish (order Siluriformes), with over 90 genera and just over 680 species. Loricariids originate from freshwater habitats of Costa Rica, Panama, and tropical and subtropical South America. These fish are noted for the bony plates covering their bodies and their suckermouths. Several genera are sold as "plecos", notably the suckermouth catfish, Hypostomus plecostomus, and are popular as aquarium fish.

species of fish

Lithogenes is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Loricariidae, the suckermouth armoured catfishes. It is the only genus within the subfamily Lithogeninae. The fishes in this genus are found in northern South America.

frame|right|Baryancistrus L-18 is also described as L-85. The L-number system is a semi-scientific classification system of catfish based on photographs of shipments of tropical catfish of the family Loricariidae published by the German aquarium magazine DATZ (Die Aquarien- und Terrarienzeitschrift (The Aquarium and Terrarium Magazine)). The first L-number was published in 1988.

Nannoplecostomus eleonorae is a species of armored catfish known only from the upper Rio Tocantins basin in the Brazilian state of Goiás. This species grows to a length of SL. This species is the only known member of its genus and the smallest loricariid catfish known.

Delturinae is a subfamily of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Loricariidae, the armored suckermouth catfishes including two genera, Delturus and Hemipsilichthys, these are collectively known as the primitive suckermouth catfishes. This group is sister to all other loricariids except Lithogenes. The geographical distribution of Delturinae, exclusively on the southeastern Brazilian Shield, indicates southeastern Brazil acts as either a refugium for basal loricariid taxa or a point of origin for the Loricariidae.