Results for “dorsal”

R. rubrodorsalis occurs sympatrically with the very similar-looking R. borapetensis over some of its natural range but is much the rarer of the two in the aquarium hobby. They are easily distinguishable from one another because R. rubrodorsalis has a bright red blotch in thewhilst in R. borapetensis the dorsal is colourless and only the base of the is coloured red. This species is sometimes sold under the erroneous name(s) R. beauforti or R. sp. cf. beauforti, probably because it was picture...

This species occurs in a couple of colour forms with fish from northern and central Taiwan possessing a greyish base body colour and those from the Linbian river, southern Taiwan having a dark marking in the anterior portion of the first dorsal fin and larger, more intense red spots on the body. The latter form is also smaller in size, lays smaller eggs, does not exhibit extreme sexual dimorphism and has been refe...

This species is very rare in the aquarium trade but available on occasion. It has 8-9 darkish body bars which usually split vertically as the fish mature, and like some conspecifics possesses a prominent dorsal adipose crest on the caudal peduncle. Schistura is the most species-rich genus among...

It can be distinguished from congeners by the following combination of characters: caudal peduncle deep, ≥ the deepest part of the remainder of the body; no dorsal or ventral skin crests along the caudal peduncle; caudal-fin deeply forked, the outermost principal rays in the upper and lower lobes more than twice the length of the innermost: suborbital flap in males present; a well-developed suborbital groove in females; 6–8 very regular bars along the flank.

It's been suggested that these two may represent the same species but this appears not to be the case. When describing S. albisuera Freyhof (2003) used a series of specimens collected in 2000 plus some larger, spotted fish which had been collected in 1999 and preserved in New York. Although he noticed differences in dorsal patterning between the two series these weren't considered sufficient to s...

This species is not traded commercially at present and the specimen pictured above was brought back from northern Papua New Guinea by private collectors in 2008. It's diagnosable from other members in the genus by possession of 10 segmented rays in the second dorsal fin, males with filamentous spines in the firstandusually with 14 rays. Colour patterning in males is also distinctive (see 'Sexual Dimorphism'). The Gobiidae is the most speciose vert...

One of the most popular and commonly seen Synos in the hobby, S. eupterus is usually offered for sale as a small (1-3") juvenile with no information regarding its potential size. These young fish are often sold as Synodontis "Network" due to their attractive reticulated patterning. This patterning breaks up as the fish mature and adult specimens have a simple spotted colouration. The characteristic 'feathered' dorsal also develops with age, with the first few rays develo...

One of the commonest Synos seen for sale, S. nigriventris is occasionally confused with S. contractus. However, on close inspection the species are easy to tell apart as S. nigriventris lacks the large head and mouth and larger eye of S. contractus. The scientific name nigriventris refers to the fact that the belly of this fish is darker than the dorsal area. This is a form of camouflage, making the fish harder to spot by predators above, such as predatory fish, birds etc. It is a basic re...

Another massively popular aquarium fish, with dozens of selectively bred varieties available. Some of these are produced by crossbreeding with X.helleri or X. maculatus. Unfortunately many commercially bred platies are not very hardy due to inbreeding and over-production and are prone to disease and premature death. The wild X. variatus can be distinguished from X. maculatus by its slimmer, more elongated body shape and slightly longer dorsal fin. This last feature has been seized upon by many...

Y. eos isn't as commonly-traded as it once was but is still available occasionally. It's difficult to confuse with any other member of the genus due to its colour pattern consisting of yellow to reddish brown base body colour (can appear greyish in some specimens, especially post-import or when introduced to a new aquarium) with a metallic green/blue golden sheen and large darkish marking on either side of the caudal peduncle. The fins can be yellowish to reddish, and the dorsal and c...

This species is common in the hobby and also sold as 'skunk botia' or 'Hora's loach', the latter in reference to Botia horae Smith, 1931, currently considered a synonym of Y. morleti. It's similar in appearance to the rarely-seen Y. longidorsalis but can be told apart by the fact it has a dark stripe running over the dorsal surface (this giving rise to the vernacular name 'skunk loach') which is lacking in its relative. The two can be further separated...

Native to northwestern Africa with a range extending southwards from Guinea-Bissau through coastal parts of Guinea and Sierra Leone as far as western Liberia, around the city of Monrovia. Type locality was originally given as 'Sierra Leone' and 'Upper Nile' but this was later changed to 'Freetown, 8°30'N, 13°15'W, Sierra Leon', referring to the capital of Sierra Leone.