On the identification of sailfin catfishes introduced to Laguna de Bay and its vicinity

A taxonomic and biogeographic study of the introduced suckermouth armored catfish locally known as 2janitor fish3 is briefly described. Specimens were collected from five sites in the Laguna de Bay basin and were examined for 19 meristic and 37 morphometric characters, and other external characters including coloration. Results were compared with existing literature on fishes in the family Loricariidae. Examination revealed that specimens of janitor fish, previously reported as Hypostomus plecostomus, actually belong to the genus Pterygoplichthys, family Loricariidae. Collected specimens consisted of two species—Pterygoplichthys disjunctivus and Pterygoplichthys pardalis. Both species were collected from the five sites except in Pasig River where only P. disjunctivus was collected