So.. I was reading a book on tropical fish - and it said, quite interestingly, that the Chinese Algae Eater -
gyrinocheilus aymonieri ( is actually not a catfish, it is a cyprinid, that has mimicked the catfish in appearance! They haven't quite figured out what it does that - usually mimicry is for the benefit of both the mimicker and the mimickee (if there's such a word), but as yet they haven't quite figured out what the benefit to the catfish is, for the
CAE to mimic them.
How.. very... odd. Now I get why I see tons of CAE's in the big
goldfish tanks here in Australia.
