P. phoenicurus. © Schindler & Linke

Two new species of Parosphromenus have been described from the island of Sumatra, Indonesia.

Members of the genus are commonly-referred to as ‘licorice gouramis’ in the aquarium hobby and are popular with more-experienced aquarists due to their somewhat specific requirements and beautiful colouration.

Parosphromenus gunawani was previously known to hobbyists as P. sp. ‘Danau Rasau’ and is native to Jambi province in north-eastern Sumatra.

P. gunawani © Schindler & Linke

It can be told apart from congeners by the following combination of characters: 11 – 13 dorsal-fin spines; 11 – 12 anal-fin spines; 8 – 10 segmented anal-fin rays; caudal-fin round with a narrow bluish vertical band bounded anteriorly by brownish patch and posteriorly by black subdistal band; no blotch on posterior part of the dorsal-fin; presence of reddish-brown bands on the anal and dorsal fins.

P. phoenicurus was referred to as P. sp. ‘Langgam’ prior to description and is named from the Greek phoinix, meaning ‘crimson’, and oura, meaning ‘tail’, in allusion to the patterning of the caudal-fin.

P. phoenicurus. © Schindler & Linke

It is distinguished from congeners by the following characters:  11 – 13 dorsal-fin spines; 6 – 7 segmented dorsal-fin rays; 11 – 13 anal-fin spines; 8 – 11 segmented anal-fin rays; caudal-fin rhombic-shaped in adult males (versus round or lanceolate with filaments in other Parosphromenus spp.).

Both species were collected from heavily-vegetated black water swamps with acidic water.

For further information please refer to the full, open access paper: Schindler, I. and H. Linke. 2012. Two new species of the genus Parosphromenus (Teleostei: Osphronemidae) from Sumatra. Vertebrate Zoology 63(3): 399-406