A. taurus can be told apart from congeners by the following combination of characters: infraorbitals and preopercle covered by thick skin and not visible externally (vs. covered by thin skin and externally visible in other Aspidoras); nuchal plate reduced, covered by thick skin and not visible externally (vs. well developed, covered by thin skin and visible externally); lateral line absent posterior to two small lateral line ossicles (vs. lateral line present on at least first body plate).

This species has been a ubiquitous aquarium fish since its discovery, and is produced on a commercial basis in several countries, therefore wild fish are no longer collected. An ornamental albino form is sometimes available.

Apart from its distinctive colour pattern, it can be identified from related species via the following combination of charac…