Re: Off topic: help IDing an unidentified Rasbora, heteromorpha complex (long)

[YE <yenoo@home.com>]

Hi Sarah,

Ive come across these fish too up here in Toronto. And yes, they are
harlequin rasboras, though the lfs here named them black bush rasbora.
And yes, I have also seen a picture of these fish in a book, (where they
were IDed as harlequinns) but cant remeber which one..... If I remeber
reading correctly, the blue/purple harlequins are actually a wild morph.
But the difference between the picture and the actual thing was that in
the picture, instead of the black marking dissolving "into a rather
amorphous blob" as you describe, they had a very clear distinct line to
where the black mark ended, and instead of that bronzy/ copper sheen on
regular harlequinns, it was a beautiful metallic blue/ purple sheen. 
And as far as I know, our lfs here get them from breeders in florida, so
what I think is that some one got a hold a few pairs of some of these
fish and began to create a domesticated version. Resulting in the fish
we see. Over all a very nice fish, but expensive up here (running
between $5 - $7 EACH.). Hope this helps :).


YNO

Sarah LeGates wrote:
> 
> Hello all,
> 
> this is not a post about apistos, but I've exhausted every other
> resource I have at hand to find an answer to my question, and I know
> someone on this list can point me to somewhere I haven't thought to
> look.  About two weeks ago, I acquired a mature pair of fish belonging
> to the Rasbora genus, in what I would describe as the heteromorpha
> complex (they look like harlequins).  The main difference that I can
> distinguish between these fish and the harlequin Rasbora is that the
> black marking on this pair has "dissolved" into a rather amorphous
> blob, extending out across the better part of the body, behind the
> gill plate, from where the clearly-defined black mark would be on a
> harlequin.  These fish have remarkable coloring, which includes the
> aforementioned purple-blue blob-like marking on the body, as well as a
> "flash" of color on the top of the head, just anterior to the mouth,
> that is very shiny and very, very intense.  The male's "flash spot" is
> red, while the female is more gold.  I would love to find more of
> these fish; they were someone's trade-ins at the LFS, and they
> couldn't ID these fish at the store.  No mention is made of them in
> Baensch I or II, Axelrod's atlas, or any of the other assorted books I
> have at home.  I can't find mention of them on the web (although it's
> tricky to find them without a species designation).  The other species
> of "harlequin-like" Rasboras listed in the sources I've consulted do
> not match these fish.  I seem to remember some mention of a fish whose
> black markings "dissolved" with age, and as these fish appear to be
> fully mature (~2-3 cm SL) I wonder if this could be an older pair of a
> fish belonging to a species whose markings are clear as juveniles.
> Does anyone have an inkling as to what they could be or where I might
> find more info on them?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Sarah LeGates
> 
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