''Panaque armbrusteri'' is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of fish in the

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

n armoured

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order (biology), order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Catfish are common name, named for their prominent barbel (anatomy), barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, though not ...

family

Loricariidae Loricariidae is the largest family (biology), family of catfish (order Siluriformes), with over 90 genus, genera and just over 680 species. Loricariids originate from freshwater habitats of Costa Rica, Panama, and tropical and subtropical South A ...

. This species is distributed throughout the

Tapajós The Tapajós ( ) is a river in Brazil. It runs through the Amazon Rainforest and is a major tributary of the Amazon River. When combined with the Juruena River, the Tapajós is approximately long. Prior to a drastic increase in illegal gold mi ...

river, a large tributary of the Amazon River, with similar populations found in the Xingu, Araguaia,

Tocantins Tocantins () is one of the 26 states of Brazil. It is the newest state, formed in 1988 and encompassing what had formerly been the northern two-fifths of the state of Goiás. Tocantins covers and had an estimated population of 1,496,880 in 2014 ...

and

Aripuanã Aripuanã is a municipality in the state of Mato Grosso in the Central-West Region of Brazil. It is located on the banks of the Aripuanã River. The city is served by Aripuanã Airport. The municipality contains the Rio Flor do Prado Ecolog ...

rivers, although it is uncertain whether these populations comprise the same or different species. ''P. armbrusteri'' is a large loricariid, reaching 43 cm (16.9 inches) in total length and reportedly weighing up to 1.3 kg (2.9 lbs). It is a fairly popular loricariid species in the aquarium trade, and is one of the species commonly referred to as a royal pleco, although that name more frequently refers to the related species '' Panaque nigrolineatus''. ''P. armbrusteri'' is also sometimes known by one of two

L-number 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 ...

s associated with it, which are L-027 and LDA-077.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6409729 Ancistrini Endemic fish of Brazil Fish of the Amazon basin Suckermouth catfish of Brazil Environment of Amazonas (Brazilian state) Environment of Pará Fish described in 2010 Taxa named by Nathan Keller Lujan