CreatureData

Royal pleco

Panaque nigrolineatus (Peters, 1877)

Status not recordedbony fish

The royal pleco (Panaque nigrolineatus) is a species in the family Loricariidae, order Siluriformes.

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Quick facts about the royal pleco

Weight
Not recorded
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the royal pleco live?

Not recorded

Where has it been introduced?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the royal pleco as introduced in 1 country, and flagged as invasive in it.

  1. Mexicoinvasive

Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).

Is the royal pleco endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the royal pleco classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classTeleostei
  4. orderSiluriformes
  5. familyLoricariidae
  6. genusPanaque
  7. SpeciesPanaque nigrolineatus (Peters, 1877)

Synonyms Chaetostomus nigrolineatus, Cochliodon nigrolineatus

Other names and names in other languages (10)
  • Royal panaqueEnglish
  • Watermelon plecoEnglish
  • panak černopruhýCzech
  • Stribet sugemalleDanish
  • Schwarzlinien-HarnischwelsGerman
  • Pléco royalFrench
  • Karališkoji panakėLithuanian
  • Zbrojnik czarnopasyPolish
  • Cascudo-realPortuguese
  • Чёрнолинейный панакRussian

Catalogue of Life

Relatives of the royal pleco

Other species in the same genus Panaque.

CompareRoyal pleco vs Blue-eyed plecRoyal pleco vs Blue-eye plecRoyal pleco vs Threadtail panaqueRoyal pleco vs Armbruster's pleco

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

Is the royal pleco an invasive species?

In some places. The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species flags the royal pleco as invasive in 1 country: Mexico. It lists it as introduced in 1 in all.

What kind of animal is the royal pleco?

The royal pleco (Panaque nigrolineatus) belongs to the family Loricariidae in the order Siluriformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Royal pleco (Panaque nigrolineatus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/royal-pleco

MLA

“Royal pleco (Panaque nigrolineatus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/royal-pleco.

BibTeX
@misc{royal_pleco_2026,
  title = {Royal pleco (Panaque nigrolineatus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/royal-pleco},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}