Fairy bass

Fairy bass
King fairy bass ( Gramma loreto )
Systematics
Acanthomorphata Spinefish (Acanthopterygii) Perch relatives (Percomorphaceae) Ovalentaria incertae sedis Family : Fairy bass
Scientific name
Grammatidae
Jordan & Evermann , 1896

The family of grammatidae (Grammatidae) is in the western tropical Atlantic before.

features

Fairy bass grow to be 2.2 to 10 cm long. They are, for the most part, very brightly colored with bright, contrasting colors and sometimes an eye spot on the dorsal fin. They are thus similar to the related dwarf bass (Pseudochromidae), but which are native to the tropical Indo-Pacific.

Their bodies are compact to elongated, laterally flattened and mostly covered by ctenoid scales. The eyes are large and set far in front. The snout is short, the mouth terminal. The premaxillary , lower jaw, ploughshare and palatine bone are covered with brush-like teeth. The gill cover is sawn or smooth, the gill cover has two or less flat, short spines. The 12 to 35 gill trap rays on the first gill arch are long. The number of Branchiostegal rays is six. The sideline is divided, with a section along the dorsal fin ending under the last dorsal fin ray and a section down the middle of the caudal stalk, or missing. The dorsal fin is uniform and elongated. The first fin ray of the pelvic fins is narrow and long and sometimes extends to the end of the anal fin or beyond. The other four fin rays are branched. The caudal fin is rounded, crescent-shaped or straight off. In some cases, their lower lobe is longer.

• Fins formula : dorsal XI – XIV / 6–10, anal III / 6–10, petoral 14–19, ventral I / 5.
• Scale formula : mLR 20–48.

Way of life

Fairy bass live very hidden in coral and rock reefs down to depths of 350 meters. They live individually or in small groups in small areas near a shelter (cave, crevice), from which they usually do not go very far and into which they disappear immediately in case of danger. Fairies swim substrate-oriented, d. H. close under a supernatant they swim with their stomach up. They feed on zooplankton and also clean larger fish of parasites ( cleaning symbiosis ). From aquarium observations - Gramma loreto and Gramma melacara have already been bred - we know that the males build hidden nest hollows out of algae in which the females lay the eggs. Fairy bass eggs have adhesive threads that hold them together.

Internal system

Black- capped fairy bass ( Gramma melacara )

Lipogramma trilineata

The Grammatidae family comprises two genera with 17 species , five of which belong to the Gramma genus and 12 to the Lipogramma genus .

• Gramma Poey, 1868 .
  • Brazilian fairy bass ( Gramma brasiliensis ) Sazima, Gasparini & Moura, 1998 .
  • Dejong's fairy bass ( Gramma dejongi ) Victor & Randall, 2010 .
  • Halter fairy bass ( Gramma linki ) Starck & Colin, 1978 .
  • King fairy bass ( Gramma loreto ) Poey, 1868 .
  • Black- capped fairy bass ( Gramma melacara ) Böhlke & Randall, 1963 .
• Lipogramma
  • Lipogramma anabantoides Böhlke, 1960 .
  • Lipogramma barrettorum Baldwin, Tornabene, Robertson, Nonaka, Gilmore, 2018 .
  • Lipogramma evides Robins & Colin, 1979 .
  • Lipogramma flavescens Gilmore & Jones, 1988 .
  • Lipogramma haberi Baldwin et al., 2016 .
  • Redhead fairy bass ( Lipogramma klayi ) Randall, 1963 .
  • Lipogramma levinsoni Baldwin et al., 2016 .
  • Lipogramma regia Robins & Colin, 1979 .
  • Lipogramma robinsi Gilmore, 1997 .
  • Lipogramma rosea Gilbert, 1979 .
  • Lipogramma schrieri Baldwin, Tornabene, Robertson, Nonaka, Gilmore, 2018 .
  • Lipogramma trilineata Randall, 1963 .

literature

• Joseph S. Nelson : Fishes of the World , John Wiley & Sons, 2006, ISBN 0-471-25031-7
• RD Mooi, Milwaukee Public Museum, Wisconsin, USA: Grammatidae. in Kent E. Carpenter: The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 2 Bony fishes part 1 (Acipenseridae to Grammatidae). FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5 PDF
• Hans A. Baensch / Robert A. Patzner: Mergus Sea Water Atlas Volume 1 , Mergus-Verlag, Melle, ISBN 3-88244-110-0

Web links

Commons : Fairy Bass  - Collection of images, videos, and audio files

• Fairy bass on Fishbase.org (English)