Re: Fish ID

[Mike & Diane Wise <apistowise@fgn.net>]

Tim,

This fish belongs to the brevis-group, but is not A. brevis. Your fish seems to
have highly extended, highly serrated, dorsal fin lappets. A. brevis doesn't
show extended lappets or a serrated dorsal fin. Your fish doesn't have a caudal
spot. A. brevis does. The Japanese web site Rayon Vert Aqua has photos of young
A. brevis that haven't developed a lyretail. Koslowski pictures a mature male
in his new book that has a lyretail. The photos in Römer's Atlas that are
listed as A. brevis are not this species. These are of fish closely related to
A. personata, if not actually personata. Koslowski writes that there are
actually 2 species represented in the type material listed in the original
description of A. brevis. The holotype of A. brevis the a moderate size fish
from the Rio Uaupés, the same as above. Paratypes from the Rio Tiquié are
actually a dwarf relative of A. brevis introduced by Römer as A. sp. Tiquié 1.
Now let's see if we can ID your fish.

Your fish appear to have a moderately elongate, moderately deep, laterally
compressed body form. They also show light scales with dark scale edges. The
lateral band is moderately broad. the dorsal fin has extended & serrated dorsal
fin lappets. The caudal fin is lyrate. This combination of features is found on
the typical (but not all) brevis-group species. Looking at the shape of the
caudal (lyrate), shape of the dorsal (highly extended, fully serrated,
lappets), comparatively short dorsal & anal fin soft ray extensions, broad
lateral band ending in the caudal peduncle without a noticeable caudal spot, a
bicolor caudal fin, & broad suborbital (cheek) stripe all point to the fish
being A. sp. Breitbinden, or something closely related to it. Koslowski
pictures a second Breitbinden species coming from around São Gabriel, Brazil,
but your photos don't show the dark caudal peduncle patch found on this
species. Only 2 other known brevis-group species lack a caudal spot: A. arua &
A. sp. Mouthbrooder/Maulbrüter. A. arua doesn't have the bicolor caudal fin &
its dark markings & dorsal fin are different. A. sp. Mouthbrooder/Maulbrüter
has a similar shape and caudal fin, but the dorsal fin is much lower & its head
much larger. Your photos aren't the best for ID purposes, but most features
point to a form of A. sp. Breitbinden that isn't exactly like those typically
seen. Hope this helps.

Mike Wise

Tim Ellis wrote:

> Ok. You all are getting pretty good at this. Let's try another one.
>
> http://www.geocities.com/michaelanicole33/Morestuff.html
>
> Tim
>
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