Sturisomatichthys is a genus of whiptail or twig catfish in the armored suckermouth family Loricariidae, subfamily Loricariinae, native to rivers of Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, and Venezuela. The atlas covers 10 species ranging from roughly 6.5 in to 10 in, and the whole genus shares the same body plan: a long, flattened, bony-plated body tapering to a slender tail, a broad suckermouth on the underside of the head, and a habit of lying motionless against wood or rock where their shape and mottled coloring make them look like a drifting stick.
In the aquarium trade these are popular, generally peaceful algae- and biofilm-grazers for well-oxygenated, flowing setups with driftwood to graze and hide against; species sold as royal whiptails or royal Farlowellas, such as Sturisomatichthys panamensis and S. festivus, are long-standing hobby staples. The genus also carries real conservation weight: of the ten species in the atlas, three are Data Deficient, one Not Evaluated, three Least Concern, one Near Threatened, one Endangered, and one Critically Endangered, yet none of them currently carry a CARES-program listing, a gap between assessed extinction risk and active hobby-conservation tracking worth flagging for this genus.