Carmine rainbow fish
| Carmine rainbow fish | ||||||||||||
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Carmine rainbow fish ( Melanotaenia duboulayi ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Melanotaenia duboulayi | ||||||||||||
| ( Castelnau , 1878) |
The carmine rainbow fish ( Melanotaenia duboulayi ) is a freshwater fish species from the rainbow fish family (Melanotaeniidae). It occurs in Australia east of the Great Dividing Range in rivers of the coastal region of southeast Queensland and on Fraser Island .
features
The carmine rainbow fish has a moderately elongated body, is severely flattened on the sides, and is usually eight to eleven cm long. Outwardly, the species can hardly be distinguished from the closely related species Melanotaenia fluviatilis . The back is bluish or bluish green. An indistinct longitudinal band in the middle of the matt, silvery sides of the body is often not visible. The rear half of the body is patterned with small, red rows of dots at the bottom, as is the caudal fin. Dorsal, anal and ventral fins are lined with black and have a red to brownish dot or dashed pattern. In female fish, the fin pattern is less pronounced. The gill cover shows a strong red spot. The iris is gold in color.
- Fin formula : dorsal 1 V – VIII, dorsal 2 I / 8–13, anal I / 15–21.
habitat
The carmine rainbow fish lives near the surface in slowly flowing rivers and streams in forests and in stagnant water such as lakes and ponds, as well as in sandy lagoons near the coast. The water inland is relatively alkaline, in the coastal regions it is rather soft and acidic. The temperature is between 16 and 28 ° C, the pH value between 5.4 and 7.8. The carmine rainbow fish lives around three to four years old in the wild.
Systematics
Melanotaenia duboulayi was described in 1878 by the French explorer Francis de La Porte de Castelnau as Atherinichthys duboulayi , but later synonymous with Melanotaenia splendida by the German zoologist Wilhelm Peters and assigned to the subspecies Melanotaenia splendida fluviatilis . Today the fish is considered an independent species, which is distinguished from Melanotaenia fluviatilis mainly by its spawn and larvae. While the eggs of M. fluviatilis are colorless, those of the carmine rainbow fish are yellowish. The outer shape of the larvae is also different, which is particularly evident in their fin fringes. The range of the two species is separated by a watershed .
literature
- Peter Schubert: Rainbow fish. Urania-Verlag, 1991, ISBN 3-332-00469-7
Web links
- Melanotaenia duboulayi on Fishbase.org (English)