Re: payaminonis???

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

I wasn't going to get into this debate because Mike J. had already gotten my
opinion. Late last month I wrote him the following:

"After looking at the fish, I'm pretty sure it's A. payaminonis, or very close
to it. Actually, it looks more like A. payaminonis than the photos in either
Römer's or Koslowski's books."

I was basing this on the original description by Kullander (1986) & the fact
that Mike's fish were still young & fins weren't fully developed. What
particularly bothered me about Mike's fish at the time was the fact that they
did not show any caudal fin pattern other than the submarginal band. Kullander
doesn't mention any caudal pattern either, other than the submarginal band. But
the fish listed as A. payaminonis in both Römer's & Koslowski's books show a
weak banding in the caudal fin. I know that the fish pictured in both books came
from Dr. Staeck's fish that he collected around the type locality & in several
other areas of the Rio Napo (Rio Aguarico). I suspect that the specimens
pictured in the 2 books were just from a different geographic population than
those used for the original description. Either that or there is some
variability of caudal pattern throughout the species. I was going to wait a
while to see if the males eventually develop the extended dorsal fin lappets
described by Kullander, but didn't seem to be visible on Mikes photos.

Due to the confusion over the past few days I decided to take a real hard look
at the video & some jpgs Mike had previously sent me again. I first looked at
the dominant male in Mike's video, frame by frame. At about 4.5 seconds into the
video the male spreads his dorsal fin against a dark background (dark interior
of a PVC tube). Although fuzzy, it appears that the dorsal fin does show
definite dorsal fin lappets. One of the photos Mike sent me (of a subdominant
male) turns out to show extended lappets, too, but they are not very visible
because the dorsal fin is closed. Still the picture shows anterior dorsal
lappets draped over its half erect dorsal fin. The same photo shows a
discontinuous submarginal band, just like Kullander's description. The dominant
male, however, seems to have a continuous submarginal band. Kullander mentions
that the caudal fins of all his specimens are damaged, but still show a
subtruncate form, i.e. the middle 8 (4+4) caudal rays  are shorter (squared off)
than the next outer ones. But Kullander's specimens are not double tipped like
those pictured in Römer's & Koslowski's books. This could be due to
geographic/individual variation, age, or condition. The difference is relatively
minor.

So, what do we have here? I agree with David Soares, Mike's fish are different
from what he got from Römer (out of Staeck's fish). The body markings are subtly
different. On Staeck's stock there are pale abdominal spots that start behind
the the pectoral fin (Bar 2) & extend into the caudal peduncle. On Mike's fish
these dark spots are restricted to only the caudal peduncle area - just like
Kullander's type material of A. payaminonis. The dorsal & caudal fins are
similar in most respects to the fin shape & patterns described in the original
description of A. payaminonis - although they do not exactly match pictures of
Staeck's fish. So, without actually seeing the fish in person or having
preserved specimens to check, I would say that Mike's fish is A. payaminonis -
or at least something closer to Kullander's original type material than the fish
shown in Römer's & Koslowski's books. If it were up to me, I would call the fish
pictured by Römer & Koslowski A. cf. payaminonis with the understanding that
they are probably A. payaminonis, just a different geographic population. There
is only 1 problem. In 2000 Kästner introduced a payaminonis-like fish, exported
from Manaus of all places. It shows similarities to both Staeck's fish & Mike's
fish, but has differences. Koslowski (2002) calls it A. cf. payaminonis. To
avoid confusion we need to find a way to separate the various forms by name. Any
suggestions?

Mike Wise

Julio Melgar wrote:

> Dave,
>
> What were the differences. Which markings are you using to distinguish them?
>
> Every day I change between A. payaminonis and A. sp. aff payaminonis. By the
> way, the fish was collected very near the Peru-Ecuador border.
>
> Julio
>
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