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Scientific Name Synodontis ornatissimus  Gosse, 1982
Common Name
Type Locality Poko, Democratic Republic of Congo.
Synonym(s) Synodontis ornatissima, Synodontis ornatus
Pronunciation sin oh don tiss
Etymology According to Cuvier, Synodontis is an "ancient name for an undetermined fish from the Nile". It is apparently not derived, as often reported, from syn-, together and odous, tooth, presumed etymology of the lizardfish genus Synodus and in reference to the closely-spaced lower jaw teeth of both genera. In Latin meaning most ornamented.
Hop to next section Species Information
Size 211mm or 8.3" SL. Find near, nearer or same sized spp.
Identification All species in the genus Synodontis have a hardened head cap that has attached a process (humeral process) which is situated behind the gill opening and pointed towards the posterior. The dorsal fin and pectoral fins have a hardened first ray which is serrated. Caudal fin is always forked. There is one pair of maxillary barbels, sometimes having membranes and occasionally branched. The two pairs of mandibular barbels are often branched and can have nodes attached. The cone-shaped teeth in the upper jaw are short. S-shaped and movable in the lower jaw. These fish produce audible sounds when disturbed rubbing the base of the pectoral spine against the pectoral girdle.

Compact and fairly short body, large eye, when viewed from above the snout is short and pointed. The humeral process is broad and rounded. Deeply forked caudal with pointed lobes, fairly large adipose fin. Bronze-olive base darker towards the upper portion, lighter at the belly. Dots smaller than the eye on the body and adipose fin, very small dots on the head, dots on the rayed fins form transverse stripes.
Sexing First lay the fish in your hand with its head toward your palm and the tail toward your fingers. Hold the dorsal spine between your middle and ring finger so the fish is belly up and you won't get punctured by the sharp fin spines (which hurts - be careful). The genital pore is in a small furrow of tissue (in healthy fish) and will be obstructed by the pelvic fins. Pull down on the tail gently to arch the fishes spine and the pelvic fins will stand and the furrow open to display the genital pore and the anus of the fish. The male has a somewhat ridged genital papillae on which the spermatoduct is on the back side, facing the tail fin. A gravid female will also show an extended papillae but the oviduct is on the ventral side of the papillae. It may also show a little redness if really gravid. A thin or emaciated female will have just two pink pores, the oviduct and the anus.
General Remarks An explanation is in order as to the status of the synonym, Synodontis ornatus. There is a paper by Pappenheim & Boulenger(1914) using Synodontis ornatus which shows a drawing of a fish that very much looks like a Synodontis nigrita, the fish shown in this paper is now considered a synonym of S. nigrita. A second paper by Boulenger (1920) using Synodontis ornatus shows a drawing of a fish that looks like the images that are shown for Synodontis ornatissima which this second ornatus is now a synonym of.
Hop to next section Habitat Information
Distribution Africa: north Congo basin (Ubangi River and affluents).
African Waters, Congo, Ubangi (click on these areas to find other species found there)

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IUCN Red List Category Least Concern, range map and more is available on the IUCN species page. Last assessed 2009.
Hop to next section Husbandry Information
Breeding Unreported.
Breeding Reports There is no breeding report.
Hop to next section Further Information
Reference Cybium 3e série. Bulletin de la Société Française d'Ichtyologie v. 6 (no. 2), pp 48.
Registered Keepers There is no registered keeper.
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Last Update 2020 Nov 19 15:00 (species record created: 2001 May 04 00:00)