Re: 'bullnoses' and other questions

[Fredrik.Ljungberg@saab.se]

"EXT AVS; \"Scott Olson\"" wrote:
> 
> There are a couple of questions that have haunted me for some years now.
> Perhaps someone can help.
> 
> The first is the matter of 'bull-nosed' fish.  I have seen entire spawns
> (not from my own fish) grow out to have a strange condition that I can only
> describe as bull-nosed, or perhaps bus-nosed.  The fish end up with a
> curiously truncated head.  The lips and everything are there.  It's as if
> the fish have run repeatedly into some immovable object without causing any
> real damage, other than to the general form of the fish.  Otherwise, the
> animals seem perfectly healthy.  I have observed this condition not only in
> apistogramma (especially in A. hippolytae, though I doubt that species has
> anything to do with it) but also in one male of a reverse trio of young
> Psuedocrenilabrus - as they were then known - nicholsi that I picked up from
> a LFS.  Can anyone tell me what causes this condition?  Has anyone else
> observed it?  If we understand the cause, perhaps we can undertake to
> prevent its occurence.  I believe I have only observed the condition in
> domestically bred specimens.
> 

I have only had this on a species of Epiplatys. The fish functioned OK
and 
I could get fry from them that were normal. I have no idea what caused
this,
some suggested it happened during hatching and caused this weird look
but
I don't know. I have a new generation and plan to take a little better
care
of it.


> The second is the proper spelling of two specific names: agassizi and
> borellii.  I have spelled them as I think they should be spelled.  While I
> can't claim to be other than the rankest neophyte in either Latin or
> taxonomy, it seems that possession in Latin, at least as it relates to
> scientific nomenclature, is normally denoted by the addition of the letter
> 'i' to someone's name, just as apostrophe 's' is added in English.  If this
> is so, and a fish is named after someone named Geisler, then the correct
> spelling of the specific name would be Apistogramma geisleri, or geisler's
> Apistogramma, in English.  Since A. agassizi and A. borellii were named
> after individuals named Agassiz and Borelli, respectively, it seems that the
> correct spelling of these species' names is as shown above.  It seems that
> in the hobby, these fish are consistently spelled agassizii and borelli,
> however.  This seems to be especially true in the case of agassizi.  Am I
> all wet?  Which is the better spelling for each species?
> 
> It may be evidence of some deep personal flaw, but I've pondered these two
> questions a number of times over the years, and would appreciate any
> elightenment!
> 

A. agassizii, not sure if his name was Agassiz or Agassizi but the
spelling
from the first description is valid, even if it's misspelled (i.e.
commbrae)

In general, if the honored person is a man, the ending is an extra i, if 
it's a woman, the ending is ae, i.e. elizabethae.


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