{{Short description|Species of fish}} {{Speciesbox | taxon = Panaque schaeferi | display_parents = 3 | authority = Lujan, Hidalgo & Stewart, 2010 }}
'''''Panaque schaeferi'''''<ref name="Panaque Revision">{{cite journal|last1=Lujan|first1=Nathan. K.|last2=Hidalgo|first2=Max|last3=Stewart|first3=Donald. J.|title=Revision of Panaque (Panaque), with Descriptions of Three New Species from the Amazon Basin (Siluriformes, Loricariidae)|journal=Copeia|date=2010|volume=2010|issue=4|pages=676–704|doi=10.1643/CI-09-185|s2cid=85959658 |url=http://www.asihcopeiaonline.org/doi/abs/10.1643/CI-09-185|accessdate=16 August 2014|url-access=subscription}}</ref> is a freshwater species of fish from the South American armoured catfish family Loricariidae. ''Panaque schaeferi'' is widely distributed throughout the upper Amazon (Solimões River) in Peruvian and Ecuadorian rivers, and it has been observed as far down as Santarém, Brazil.<ref name="Panaque Revision" /> Growing to at least 60 cm (23.6 inches) SL, it is one of the largest, and likely one of the heaviest species of Loricariid.<ref name="Panaque Revision"/> It has been known in the aquarium trade since at least 1996<ref name=DATZ>{{cite web|title=DATZ magazine - New imports: Loricariids from Peru|url=https://www.datz.de/images/stories/artikel-l-nummern/L%20203%20bis%20L%20206%20-%20Loricariiden%20aus%20Peru%201996-2.pdf}}</ref> under various names such as 'Titanic pleco' and 'Volkswagen pleco' (due to its resemblance to the VW Beetle car),<ref name="Aqualog">{{cite book|last1=Schraml|first1=Erwin|last2=Schäfer|first2=Frank|title=Loricariidae: all L-numbers|date=2004|publisher=Aqualog|location=Germany|isbn=3-936027-51-X|pages=17, 153–154|url=http://www.aqualog.de/product/aqualog-english/reference-books/?L=1|accessdate=16 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140727232813/http://www.aqualog.de/product/aqualog-english/reference-books/?L=1|archive-date=27 July 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> in addition to L203 and LDA065<ref name="DATZ" /><ref name="Aqualog" /> under the L-number code. Juveniles are often confused with Panaque bathyphilus and erroneously called L090c.<ref name="Aqualog" />
The fish is named in honor of Scott A. Schaefer of the American Museum of Natural History. Additionally, he is the ichthyological editor of Copeia for his many contributions to ichthyology in general, and in particular to the understanding of the Loricarioidea.<ref name = ETYFish>{{cite web | url = http://www.etyfish.org/siluriformes4/ | title = Order SILURIFORMES: Family LORICARIIDAE: Subfamilies HYPOSTOMINAE, RHINELEPINAE and DELTURINAE | access-date = 9 November 2021 | author1 = Christopher Scharpf | author2 = Kenneth J. Lazara | name-list-style = amp | work = The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database | publisher = Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara | date = 22 September 2018 | archive-date = 9 November 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211109224636/http://etyfish.org/siluriformes4/ | url-status = dead }}</ref>
The ''Panaque schaeferi'' eats mainly wood from trees that have roots exposed into the river. As there are not many nutrients available in the wood itself, scientists believe that they gain nutrition due to all the microorganisms that live on the surface of the bark.<ref>Schaefer, Scott & Stewart, Donald. (1993). Systematics of the Panaque dentex species group (Siluriformes: Loricariidae), wood-eating armored catfishes from tropical South America. Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters. 4. 309-342. </ref> They have specialized teeth, different than other catfish species, to better eat wood. Their excrement looks like sawdust.
==References== {{Reflist}}
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Category:Ancistrini Category:Fish described in 2010 Category:Suckermouth catfish of Brazil Category:Freshwater fish of Ecuador Category:Freshwater fish of Peru Category:Fish of the Amazon basin Category:Taxa named by Nathan Keller Lujan Category:Taxa named by Max Hidalgo Category:Taxa named by Donald J. Stewart