Re: A. juruensis

[Mike & Diane Wise <apistowise@bewellnet.com>]

I discussed this fish privately between Kaycy & Ken about 3 weeks ago. I
am repeating my comments here for list member to see. The main problem
with
IDing fish from any photo is that, more often than not, certain
necessary
diagnostic details aren't always visible. My gut feeling right now is
that these
are photos of a male A. sp. aff. juruensis. The lyre tail extensions and
anterior dorsal fin lappets have disappeared into the dark background.

Date:
            Fri, 13 Nov 1998 10:36:25 -0700
      From:
            Mike Wise <apistowise@bewellnet.com>
        To:
            djhanson@calweb.com
        CC:
            K.Laidlaw@roe.ac.uk

Kaycy & Ken,

I looked at Kaycy's photos of A. trifasciata and I'm not sure what it
is. Do you still have these fish or their offspring? They have a very
unusual set of features. The dorsal looks much like that of a very
mature trifasciata-group male, having only one highly elongated dorsal
fin lappet, the rest being only 2/3 its size. But this may be due to
loss of detail where it blends into the black background. Did this fish
have more than one lappet extend significantly above the rest of the
dorsal? The tail looks round like trifasciata-group species, too, but
the coarse rows of spots are very atypical (It did have a round tail
didn't it, or is it just a short lyretail hidden in the surroundings of
the photo?). Like Ken says, A. trifasciata doesn't have the wavy
abdominal stripes (nor does any member of the trifasciata-group, for
that
matter). These are most commonly seen on cacatuoides-complex species.
The
lateral
band
seems to end at Bar 7, in front of a small caudal peduncle spot (seen
more clearly on the bottom photo). This is never seen on
trifasciata-group species and on only three cacatuoides-complex species
(A. juruensis, A. sp. aff. juruensis, & A. staecki), all of which have
lyreate tails. The mouth is kind of small compared to those of typical
cacatuoides-complex species males, particularly A.
cacatuoides/luelingi/juruensis/sp. aff. juruensis/sp. Aruã. It's more
like that of A. staecki which I consider a bridge species between the
cacatuoides-complex and the trifasciata-group. If the dorsal fin lappets

weren't so high, I would have thought, like Ken, that it was A.
juruensis (actually A. sp. aff. juruensis because of the yellowish band
above the lateral band), but a very young male that hadn't developed its

lyre tail. With a dorsal fin like that shown, it's obvious this is a
fully mature male.  So, what is it? I honestly don't know. Without
additional information on the structure of the dorsal and caudal fins,
I'd have to say it's a species unknown to me that's probably related to
A. staecki.

Interesting fish. Hope this helps.

best wishes,

Mike

>
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

> This is the apistogramma mailing list, apisto@majordomo.pobox.com.
> For instructions on how to subscribe or unsubscribe or get help,
> email apisto-request@majordomo.pobox.com.
> Search http://altavista.digital.com for "Apistogramma Mailing List
Archives"!


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the apistogramma mailing list, apisto@majordomo.pobox.com.
For instructions on how to subscribe or unsubscribe or get help,
email apisto-request@majordomo.pobox.com.
Search http://altavista.digital.com for "Apistogramma Mailing List Archives"!