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first came across this species, in the flesh so to speak, in Pier Aquatics in Wigan in the north of England, September 2014 and was instantly engrossed by the unusual make up of this Loricariid which resembled a creature from a prehistoric age. This species has also thick plates and lacks an adipose fin.

Rhinelepis strigosa

The Rhinelepis group has a total of only nine species distributed in the Amazon, Paraná, and Sáo Francisco basins and some smaller, coastal streams in south eastern Brazil. The Rhinelepis group is an assemblage of four genera of medium to large sized species. This group is unique among Loricariids for possessing a round (normal) iris versus a bilobed iris (although it is often hard to see the flap in bilobed, preserved fishes). The aforementioned Rhinelepsis group consists of Pogonopoma, Pogonpomoides, Pseudorinelepsis and Rhinelepsis and together they form a morphological clade within the subfamily Hypostominae.

Phylogenetic analysis tells us that there is a split between the Amazonian genus of Pseudorinelepsis and the remainder of the genera which occur in southeastern Brazil. It has been noted that the gill openings of Rhinelepsis are large which contradicts that in most Loricariids which are very much restricted.

Rhinelepis strigosa - head view

There are only two described species of Rhinelepsis the other being R. aspera. R. strigosa can be told apart from R. aspera by having rougher scutes with odontodes. The Rhinelepsis genus have numerous teeth which can be as much as 96 and the stalks are long which is unusual for the Loricariids.

Bristly pine-cone pleco

Rhinelepis strigosus

Hypostominae

South America: Paraná and Uruguay River basins. Type locality: dans le Parana et d’autres rXvières de la province de Corrientes [Argentina].

40.0cm (16ins)

20-27°c (67-81°f.)

Possesing thick large scutes, large gill openings and lacking an adipose fin. Round (normal) iris. Head long and flat. Short fins. Dorsal 11-7, Pectoral fin: 1-6; Ventrals, 1-5; Anal fin 6 (1 unbranched, 5 branched).

Grows rather large and can be territorial with conspecifics so would need a large tank to accommodate them. Provide hiding places such as large pipes. As they have a large metabolic rate, water changes would need to be adhered to. Nothing to suggest that there will be a problem keeping alongside other fishes.

May not be possible as this genera migrate to spawn, and scatter there eggs with no parental protection.

Omnivore. Vegetable foods such as courgette, cucumber etc. Aquarium staple foods such as tablets, pellets and frozen foods.

Armbruster, J.W., 1998. Phylogenetic relationships of the suckermouth armored catfishes of the Rhinelepis group (Loricariidae: Hypostominae). Copeia 1998(3):620-636.
Ferraris, C.J. Jr., 2007. Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types. Zootaxa 1418:1-628.
Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2009. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version (04/2010).
Seidel, I. 2008. Back to Nature guide to L-catfishes, Ettlingen, Germany 208 p.
Walters, Mark. Rhinelopsis 'The Pinecone Plec' The Journal of the Catfish Study Group. Volume 15, issue 3. September 2014.

Photo Credits

© Steven Grant @

© Allan James @ courtesy of