Author: Weitzman, 1978
FBname: Shining pencilfish
Remark: The most recent distributional records were published by Weitzman & Weitzman (1982: Fig. 229). Zarske (1993) noted that eleven aquarium bred specimens best identified as <i>Nannostomus nitidus</i> had an adipose fin and some did not, although their wild caught parents had this fin. All specimens described by Weitzman (1978) had this fin. Because of the similarity in many other characters between <i>Nannostomus nitidus</i> and <i>Nannostomus limatus</i> Weitzman (1978), a species without an adipose fin, Zarske (1993) opened the question of the differences between these two species. There remain some differences between these species as designated by Weitzman(1978), for example <i>Nannostomus nitidus</i> lacks a tertiary stripe and has 2-3 inner dentary teeth while <i>Nannostomus limatus</i> has the opposite of these features. Solution of this problem must await statistical analyses of several characters using extensive collections from their native habitat of these tentatively distinct species. Occasionally exported as an aquarium fish, Weitzman et al. (2001).