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i
think my male might not be mature enough yet to manifest all the diagnostic
characteristics. i took a closer look last night, and i'll try to give a more
complete description here, using Mike Wise's ID worksheet as a guide. these are
descriptions of the male; the females are too shy to get a nice long
look.
length not including tail is ~2".
body has a metallic blue-green sheen, much like the pictures in the site below.
the 'belly' is generally a light color, whitish or
yellowish.
i noticed there is a very faint
lateral band, when seen in the right light (definitely not prominent or
dark).
there are brown dorsal blotches,
maybe 5 or 6 spaced regularly along the base of the dorsal fin. there are more
small brown splotches on the top of his head and 'face'.
there is no discernable sub- or
superorbital stripe.
the dorsal fin has an extension
reaching almost to the caudal fin, but it has no big 'spikes' on the first few
rays as seen in the picture on the link below. instead, the front bit of the fin
is colored black. the fin itself, i noticed, does indeed have a faint reddish
hue.
the pectoral fins have a reddish
'insertion point' right behind the gill plate.
ventral fins are very faintly
bluish, with long extensions that have a light coloration (white or
yellow).
there is a vertical caudal spot, not
black, but it's discernable.
the caudal fin - this is cool - when
i really looked closely i could see little spots covering it. the spots were a
color similar to the light bluish of the body. if i'm remembering correctly the
field color of the fin is very faintly reddish.
ok so maybe i've run this horse into the ground, but
since i don't have many good books to diagnose with (yet), this is the next best
thing. plus i figure you guys love this kind of thing. i know i enjoy reading
detailed observations made by others.
i guess my main curiosity about this
is, how much (if any) can i expect this guy to change as he
matures?
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