Common Plecostomus or Snow King Plecostomus | Liposarcus anisitsi or Pterygoplichthys ambrosettii:
This fish has been misidentified so much that there is no common story behind this fish. The Fish and Game people and University professors seem to think the fish is an invasive species in Florida. In fact they are native to Florida. Any fish that was here before Columbus discovered America is considered indigenous. These fish originated from South American Rio Paraguay, at the foot of Formosa. This is the same area that was explored by the Spanish Sailors looking for silver.
Formosa: Argentina. The lands were initially inhabited by Toba and Wichí (Mataco) aboriginals. On April 8, 1879 Commander Luis Jorge Fontana founded the settlement that would become the capital of the National Territory of Chaco from 1884 to June 15, 1955, when it gained the status of province. The Formosa campus of the National University of the Northeast was established as the National University of Formosa in 1988. The name of the city (and the province) comes from the archaic Spanish word fermosa (currently hermosa) meaning "beautiful". The name Vuelta Fermosa or Vuelta la Formosa was used by Spanish sailors in the early 16th century to describe the area where the Paraguay River makes a turn, right in front of the actual city. These sailors were searching for the legendary Sierra del Plata.[1] Coincidentally, the province is partially antipodal to Taiwan (formerly called Formosa). This is a party town where the people love to eat. The Snow King Pleco is at the top of the list for food fish and they are used to clean the local water supplies. Spanish ships from the time period were just getting geared up for long haul journeys. Food and water were the most important things a sailor could consider, besides gold and silver anyway. Perhaps VESPUCCI, AMERIGO was the one that turned these fish loose in Florida so he would not have to eat them, or DE LEON, PONCE or PINZON, VINCENTE or Jose de San Martin in the 1800's. Florida may have been a God forsaken swamp land but accept for the mosquitoes, it was a good stopping place for early explorers.

All this is fine and dandy if you are trying to prove that this fish was here before Columbus discovered America in 1492. The history of Tropical fish in Florida is such that before airports, airplanes and oxygen in a bag there was only boats. I spoke with Harry Ramberan who was one of the very first tropical fish exporters from Guyana SA. He said that the tropical fish trade was extremely limited to certain areas of South America because of the transportation at the time, 50 years ago. He said the only place in the entire South America that he knows of this particular fish, or one like it, is in the Formosa Argentina area. Hypostomus is a general name given to hundreds of fish in the same family. Hypostomus is the largest genus of the armored catfish family Loricariidae. Given this information then it is entirely plausible that this fish could have been introduced to Florida in the 16th century. How it got here is an unanswerable question. Tropical fish were not exported from Argentina until the airports were established there and to this day they are hard to come by because it is not a thriving business and never was. This beckons the question of, is this fish a native to Florida? Considering that the Hypostomus type of fish is a fish that is located throughout all of South America then why could it not be a natural primitive of Florida. Left over from the Ice age "Miocene period" as an original animal in Florida. Because of the lack of fossil records in Florida then this is more than likely the case. Elephant bones can be found in the fossils in Florida and shark teeth but that is about it. You can not prove that any fish in Florida is in fact native to Florida. Such a limited gene pool in this Plecostomus to Argentina, could easily be proven with lab testing for DNA, but nobody is doing that because of the expenses involved. In conclusion I would say there is no doubt that the Plecostomus is in fact a native to Florida. Just because it did not show up until the canals were built does not mean that they were not here before the canals were made. Is there really such a thing as a Florida Bass or a Florida Brim? I suppose DNA testing can prove something. The Florida common Pleco is an extremely valuable fish for Florida and not an invasive species. They are the cleanup crew for everything and not the destroyer that some researchers (University students) would have us believe. There are in fact several types of Hypostomus Plecos that are native to Florida and have not been classified or identified. I have seen 3 ft long specimens basking in the sun. I have seen black ones with white spots. I have seen smaller 12 inch fish that can only have a name as Common Pleco left over from the Ice age. These are all native Florida fish unless you want to test the hundreds of fish in South America for DNA.

The only reasonable explanation for the existence of the Hypostomus Plecostomus in the USA is the Big river/Small river theory. Like the Paddlefish (Big river fish) that has been blocked off from its natural habitat by dams, the Common Pleco (Small river fish) has been stimulated by the addition of small canals (1960) that were made for the control of water. The water management that was started in the 1940s, after the depression era, has been a God send for these fish to thrive and a nightmare for the Paddlefish to die out. It would seem that 400 million years of natural water management has been trumped by 65 years of unnatural water management. Fish that hide in caves during the day time and come out at night were not discovered until after the canals were made. So much for the blame game!