Lakamora rainbow fish
| Lakamora rainbow fish | ||||||||||||
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Males in a morning courtship mood |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Melanotaenia lakamora | ||||||||||||
| Allen & Renyaan , 1996 |
The lakamora rainbow fish ( Melanotaenia lakamora ) from the rainbow fish family was discovered by Heiko Bleher on a collecting trip in 1995 and brought to Europe for the aquarium hobby. The relatively small species is divided into two small lakes in southern West New Guinea endemic .
features
The lakamora rainbow fish has a mauve basic color with a silvery white breast. Four rows of scales in the middle of the body are separated by orange stripes. The species has a broad, dark horizontal median strip that is interrupted in the middle of the body. The light scales on the lower half of the body have a dark border. The dorsal and anal fins are reddish in color, the caudal and pelvic fins are slightly orange and the pectoral fins are predominantly transparent. Females have a more bronze-colored basic color and are somewhat weaker in color compared to males. The fins are largely colorless compared to the males and the first dorsal fin is shorter. The size of adult specimens is about seven centimeters in length; old males can get very high back. During courtship, the males in particular intensify red and dark hues. They then show a snow-white stripe on their forehead that they can switch on and off within seconds.
Melanotaenia lakamora is closely related to the species Melanotaenia kamaka and Melanotaenia pierucciae, which are also found in the Triton Lakes area .
Occurrence and habitat
The lakamora rainbow fish is only found in the two lakes Lakamora and Aiwaso, which are a few square kilometers in size, fifty kilometers east of the port city of Kaimana near Triton Bay in southern West Papua. The two lakes are a few hundred meters apart and are separated by a hundred meter high ridge.
The lake floor consists of calcareous rock and the lakes are surrounded by wooded hills. The rainbow fish stayed mostly in shallow water near the shore. The visibility in alkaline water with a pH value of 8 was about three to five meters.
literature
- Heinrich winner: rainbow fish. The genus Melanotaenia . Natur und Tier-Verlag, 2010, ISBN 978-3-86659-154-7 , pp. 40-41
- Hans J. Mayland: blue eyes and rainbow fish . Dähne, Ettlingen 2000, ISBN 3-921684-82-X , p. 132-133 .
- GR Allen, SJ Renyaan: Three new species of rainbowfishes (Melanotaeniidae) from the Triton Lakes, Irian Jaya, New Guinea . In: Aqua, Journal of Ichthyology and Aquatic Biology . tape 2 , no. 2 , 1996, p. 13-24 . (First scientific description)
Web links
- Adrian R. Tappin: Melanotaenia lakamora (English)
- Lakamora rainbow fish on Fishbase.org (English)