Synodontis irsacae

Description

Synodontis irsacae is a species of upside-down catfish endemic to Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Tanzania, where it is only known from Lake Tanganyika. It was first described by Belgian ichthyologist Hubert Matthes in 1959, from specimens collected from Lake Tanganyika at Kalundu, in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The species name " irsacae" is derived from the abbreviation "I.R.S.A.C.", or Institut pour la Recherche Scientifique en Afrique Centrale. For many years, specimens the species were considered to be juvenile members of S. dhonti, but in 2006, J.J. Wright and L.M. Page identified unique characteristics of this species that established that they were a unique species.