Crazy # names

[tothna]

Whats up with all the crazy # names like L200 and whatnot

 

[messiner]

its a scientific and concrete way to identify a plecostomus

 

[USMCtanker]

ya what he said

 

[Bigg081]

its because there are so many......the fish are so closely related its hard to come up with different names!

 

[ewurm]

I think they should number all fish for easy ID.

 

[loach43]

It's not as bad as it could be. Many plecos have subtle differences within the same L #.

 

[Hakon]

Because of the many species in Loricariidae they are named with L and sometimes LDA. L is genus and the number is the species.

 

[Daniel Machado]

its a scientific and concrete way to identify a plecostomus

Actually, the L-numbers are a COMMERCIAL and concrete way to identify a member of the family Loricariidae. Several L-numbers identify morphs and color variants not scientifically described. It's a system created by german pleco-lovers/ sellers/ exporters (in Datz magazine, if I'm not wrong) to identify a specific pleco, even if it's not scientifically described yet. Anyways, it's very useful to fish keepers, scientists and sellers/ exporters/ importers.

Best regards.

Daniel.

 

[Jason_S]

with so many new and undescribed species being imported they had to come up with some way to keep them straight. so it was easier to create the L# system than wait for the scientists to have the time to study and describe each species. Like Daniel alluded to, some different L#'s are actually believed to be different color morphs of the same species. For example, L75 and L124 are believed by many to be the same species.