Pterophyllum altum

Let me continue.....

When an ichthyologist (those who specialize in studying fishes) make the meristic count, it is usually from a number of fish specimens from different location or collection points. They do make maps of this (and are readily available online). Which makes the meristic count as a 'range' of all the specimen they collected. the meristic count itself thus shows the natural variation in the species and may show, at least some morphological features of a particular collection site. The mapping of meristics also assist in the visualization of a 'cline.' Simply said - it can show the gradual change of features of a species in a given area of distribution. This also explains the importance of collection sites among ichthyologists and even hobbyists.The P. altum is supposedly only collected from a few sites, namely: Atabapo and Inirida only (Bleher) and Puerto Ayacucho (for some). Others do claim that P. altum can be found in a much wider are although not as wide as that of P. scalare - and the sites include upper Orinoco.

Source or collection site can be a little bit misleading unless one did the collection himself and obviously that is next to impossible in our case when we get our fish mostly from the local fish stores. As to the importers, I believe they follow what the suppliers provide. Which leaves us with no choice but to rely on meristics which is the one reliable (and documented) basis for identifying the P. altum at this time (or for other fishes for that matter aside from genetics), this will be based on fish morphology.