Dwarf rainbow fish
| Dwarf rainbow fish | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Melanotaenia maccullochi | ||||||||||||
| Ogilby , 1915 |
The dwarf rainbow fish ( Melanotaenia maccullochi ) is a fish from the rainbow fish family (Melanotaeniidae).
The group fish, which is only seven centimeters long, lives in southeastern New Guinea and in Queensland in northeastern Australia on the Cape York Peninsula and around Cairns and Cardwell .
Dwarf rainbow fish have silvery flanks with reddish and brownish vertical stripes. The fish that live in New Guinea and the Cape York Peninsula are more intensely colored. In the past, they were often confused with the similar species Melanotaenia sexlineata , which only occurs in the vicinity of the upper reaches of the Fly River.
The sexes can be distinguished by the fact that the females are paler in color and do not have as pointed dorsal and anal fins as the males.
The specific epithet honors the Australian ichthyologist Allan Riverstone McCulloch .
literature
- Heinrich winner: rainbow fish. The genus Melanotaenia . Natur und Tier-Verlag, 2010, ISBN 978-3-86659-154-7 .
- Günther Sterba : The world's freshwater fish. 2nd Edition. Urania, Leipzig / Jena / Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-332-00109-4 .
Web links
- Dwarf Rainbow Fish on Fishbase.org (English)