Dotted threadfish

Dotted threadfish
	Wild form from Central Java
Systematics
Order :	Climbing fish species (Anabantiformes)
Subordination :	Labyrinth fish (Anabantoidei)
Family :	Osphronemidae
Subfamily :	Threadfish (Trichogastrinae)
Genre :	Trichopodus
Type :	Dotted threadfish
Scientific name
	Trichopodus trichopterus
	( Pallas , 1770)

Yellow cultivated form, female

Spotted threadfish, brown cultivated form, male

The spotted gourami ( Trichopodus trichopterus , syn .: Trichogaster trichopterus ), formerly often misunderstood as the spotted gourami , is a labyrinth fish and the " Eastern gourami " with the most widespread distribution in Southeast Asia .

features

With a total length of up to 15 centimeters, the spotted threadfish is a handsome freshwater fish . In its considerable area of distribution there are differently colored and drawn manifestations. The first scientific description refers to a specimen from "Indonesia". Taking into account the conditions at the time, this most likely meant the large Sunda island of Java . There the dotted gourmands have a blue-gray to ocher-brown basic color that lightened from the back to the belly line, on which a series of different fine, wavy vertical lines cover the whole body. In the middle of the body and on the base of the caudal fin there is an irregular dark brown to black point. The unpaired fins are spotted with different intensities. In the caudal fin, the points are pearly, shimmering golden or bluish. In the dorsal fin they largely correspond to the basic color of the body and in the soft-radiated part of the long anal fin the points are of different sizes and colored yellow to orange-red. The anal fin is also lined in this shade. The eye is red. Depending on the other geographical origin, the basic color is yellowish to blue, the bands finer or wider and more or less wave-like. Different populations of the spotted threadfish are characterized by color differences and attest to this species a great variability.

Fin formula : dorsal VI-VII / 8-10, anal X-XII / 33-38.

ecology

Spotted threadfish have the largest distribution area among the "Eastern threadfish". Occurrences are documented on practically all large and small Sunda Islands, on the Malay Peninsula , in Singapore , Thailand , Vietnam , Laos , Cambodia , Myanmar and on the island of Luzon ( Philippines ). Today it is no longer comprehensible to what extent humans have contributed to this widespread distribution. The great adaptability of this species is also reflected in the range of its habitats , because it colonizes classic labyrinth fish biotopes (herbaceous flat areas of standing or slowly flowing natural waters, rice fields, irrigation systems and ponds) as well as larger streams, rivers and canals. There do not seem to be any particular dependencies on the chemical properties of water. Some of the island populations even show an amazing salinity tolerance for labyrinth fish , as there is evidence from the brackish water . The spotted threadfish is one of the least specialized labyrinth fish and this is the reason for its success in spreading. Molluscs , insects , insect larvae , shrimp , approaching insects and, to a lesser extent, algae and higher plants also belong to the broad spectrum of food .

Reproduction

With an area of more than 30 cm² and well arched above the surface of the water, males of this species build the largest of all gourami foam nests . They arise at the center of of reproductive occupied males coalfield , where the conspicuous courtship of spawning females ready done. After a short, but violent to aggressive courtship , the couple spawns between one and four thousand tiny eggs under the nest, which are lighter than water and therefore rise into the nest on their own. The brood care of the male consists first in the expulsion of the female and then in the nest defense. The very small larvae , equipped with a large supply of yolk , hatch after about a day and leave the nest area swimming freely two to three days later.

Importance to humans

Spotted threadfish are not only widespread, but also occur in large population densities. This and the possibility of keeping them alive for a long time make them very suitable and sought-after food fish . In their home countries, they are part of the daily market supply, freshly dead and, above all, alive. Already in 1896 imported by FG Umlauff to Hamburg, spotted gourami are regular aquarium fish in the offer of the pet trade. In addition to the rarely offered "nominate form", blue, brown, silver, yellow-gold, marbled and even white (with pigmented eyes) as well as albino cultivated forms are offered. Few specialists deal with wild-caught and pure-population strains based on them .

Systematics

First depiction by Kölreuter, 1764

The spotted threadfish was first mentioned in 1764 by Joseph Gottlieb Kölreuter ; however, this representation does not meet the requirements of a scientific species description . Kölreuter - J (oseph) G (ottlieb) Kölreuter and I (osepho) T (heophilio) Koelreuter are the same person; he published both under his Christian name as well, since he long in St. Petersburg worked under the Latinized Russian spelling - although called a generic name , Sparus , failed however to add a style name, which since the introduction of the binomial nomenclature by Linnaeus in 1758 was required. The first scientific description was in 1770 by Pallas as Labrus trichopterus from Indonesia . More synonym descriptions : Osphromenus siamensis Günther 1861 Osphromenus insulatus Seale 1910 Trichopus Sepat Bleeker 1845, Trichopus maculatus Swainson 1839 Osphromenus saigonensis , Trichopus siamensis and Stethochaetus biguttatus Gronow in Gray 1854. Also subspecies have been described: Trichogaster trichopterus koehlreuteri (Pallas, 1777) Trichogaster trichopterus sumatranus Ladiges 1933 (possibly the starting point for breeding the “Cosby Guramis” or “Marbled Gourami”) and Trichogaster trichopterus siamensis Klausewitz 1957, which are currently not recognized. The very widespread, differently adapted and exceptionally transparent striped threadfish cannot be kept within a single species for a long time. New descriptions are to be expected after a necessary revision. In September 2014, a shape without any drawing except for a spot on the caudal fin base was newly described as Trichopodus poptae Low, Tan & Britz, 2014. The generic name Trichopodus indicates the thread-like ventral fins ( thrix "hair", pous "foot" or "fin"). The adjectivistic species name repeats this physical characteristic. Together with the mosaic threadfish ( Trichopodus leerii ), the moonlight threadfish ( Trichopodus microlepis ) and the shovel threadfish ( Trichopodus pectoralis ), the spotted threadfish form the group of "Eastern threadfish".

literature

Michael Kokoscha: Labyrinth Fish . Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-8001-7431-6 .
Jörg Vierke: Labyrinth fish . Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung W. Keller & Co., Stuttgart 1986, ISBN 3-440-05594-9 .

swell

Freyhof, J., DV Serov & TN Nguyen (2000): A preliminary checklist of the freshwater fishes of the River Dong Nai, South Vietnam . Bonn Zoological Contributions v. 49 (no. 1-4): 93-99. ( online ; PDF; 450 kB)
Kottelat, M. (2001): Fishes of Laos . WHT Publications (Pte) Ltd. Fishes of Laos .: 1-198., Pls. 1-48, figs. 1-65.
Paepke, H.-J. (2005): About the spotted threadfish, Trichogaster trichopterus (Belontiidae) and its discoverers Joseph Gottlieb Koelreuter and Peter Simon Pallas . The Macropod, 27 (9/10): 162-169.
Roberts, TR (1989): The freshwater fishes of western Borneo (Kalimantan Barat, Indonesia) . Memoirs of the California Academy of Sciences No. 14: i-xii + 1-210.
Tan, HH & PKL Ng (2005): The labyrinth fishes (Teleostei: Anabanatoidei, Channoidei) of Sumatra, Indonesia . The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology Suppl. No. 13: 115-138.

Web links

Commons : Dotted Gourami - collection of images, videos and audio files

Trichopodus trichopterus on Fishbase.org (English)

Trichopodus trichopterus in the "Catalog of Fishes"

Trichopodus trichopterus inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: Vidthayanon, C., 2011. Retrieved December 10, 2013.

Individual evidence

↑ Koelreuter, IT (1764): Descriptionis piscium rariorum e museo petropolitano exceptorum continuatio . Novi Commentarii Academiae Scientiarum Imperialis Petropolitanae v. 9: 420-470, Pls. 9-10.
↑ Pallas, PS (1770): Spicilegia Zoologica quibus novae imprimis et obscurae animalium species iconibus, descriptionibus atque commentariis illustrantur . Berolini, Gottl. August. Long. Spicilegia Zoologica quibus novae imprimis et obscurae animalium species iconibus, descriptionibus atque commentariis illustrantur. v. 1 (fasc. 8): 1-56, Pls. 1-5 .
^ Günther, A. (1861): Catalog of the fishes in the British Museum. Catalog of the acanthopterygian fishes in the collection of the British Museum. 3. Gobiidae, Discoboli, Pediculati, Blenniidae, Labyrinthici, Mugilidae, Notacanthi . London. Catalog of the fishes in the British Museum. v. 3: i-xxv + 1-586 + ix .
^ Bleeker, P. (1845): Bijdragen tot de geneeskundige topography van Batavia. Generically overlooks the fauna . Natuur-en Geneeskundig Archif voor Neerlandsch Indië v. 2: 505-528.
^ Gray, JE (1854): Catalog of fish collected and described by Laurence Theodore Gronow, now in the British Museum . London. Catalog of fish collected and described by Laurence Theodore Gronow, now in the British Museum .: i-vii + 1-196 .
^ Jörg Töpfer: Trichogaster trichopterus. In: Claus Schaefer, Torsten Schröer (Hrsg.): The large lexicon of aquaristics. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-8001-7497-9 , p. 948.
^ Low, BW, Tan, HH & Britz, R. (2014): Trichopodus poptae, a new anabantoid fish from Borneo (Teleostei: Osphronemidae). Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, 25 (1): 69-77.

[1] Koelreuter, IT (1764): Descriptionis piscium rariorum e museo petropolitano exceptorum continuatio . Novi Commentarii Academiae Scientiarum Imperialis Petropolitanae v. 9: 420-470, Pls. 9-10.

[2] Pallas, PS (1770): Spicilegia Zoologica quibus novae imprimis et obscurae animalium species iconibus, descriptionibus atque commentariis illustrantur . Berolini, Gottl. August. Long. Spicilegia Zoologica quibus novae imprimis et obscurae animalium species iconibus, descriptionibus atque commentariis illustrantur. v. 1 (fasc. 8): 1-56, Pls. 1-5 .

[3] Günther, A. (1861): Catalog of the fishes in the British Museum. Catalog of the acanthopterygian fishes in the collection of the British Museum. 3. Gobiidae, Discoboli, Pediculati, Blenniidae, Labyrinthici, Mugilidae, Notacanthi . London. Catalog of the fishes in the British Museum. v. 3: i-xxv + 1-586 + ix .

[4] Bleeker, P. (1845): Bijdragen tot de geneeskundige topography van Batavia. Generically overlooks the fauna . Natuur-en Geneeskundig Archif voor Neerlandsch Indië v. 2: 505-528.

[5] Gray, JE (1854): Catalog of fish collected and described by Laurence Theodore Gronow, now in the British Museum . London. Catalog of fish collected and described by Laurence Theodore Gronow, now in the British Museum .: i-vii + 1-196 .

[6] Jörg Töpfer: Trichogaster trichopterus. In: Claus Schaefer, Torsten Schröer (Hrsg.): The large lexicon of aquaristics. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-8001-7497-9 , p. 948.

[7] Low, BW, Tan, HH & Britz, R. (2014): Trichopodus poptae, a new anabantoid fish from Borneo (Teleostei: Osphronemidae). Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, 25 (1): 69-77.