Scobinancistrus is a genus of Loricariidae, the armored suckermouth catfish, restricted to the Xingu River system in Brazil. It carries the bony body armor, ventral sucker mouth, and spoon-shaped rasping teeth typical of the family, used to graze algae, biofilm, and wood fiber from submerged rock in the Xingu's rapids. It runs large for a pleco, with atlas species spanning 5–11.5 in.
This is one of the aquarium hobby's most sought-after pleco genera: the sunshine pleco (S. aureatus) and golden cloud pleco (S. pariolispos) are prized for a bold black body dusted with gold-orange spots and command premium prices among specialist keepers, who house them in spacious, well-filtered, current-rich tanks on a mixed diet of driftwood, vegetables, and meaty foods. Conservation is a genuine worry - the brief's tally of 2 Vulnerable and 1 Not Evaluated tracks with the well-documented impact of the Belo Monte Dam, which flooded and diverted a long stretch of the Xingu's rapids, the exact habitat this genus is restricted to; all three atlas species carry CARES priority status.