Pao (genus)
| Pao | ||||||||||||
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Pao baileyi |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Pao | ||||||||||||
| Kottelat , 2013 |
Pao is a genus of the puffer fish family(Tetraodontidae). The genus was established in November 2013 by the Swiss ichthyologist Maurice Kottelat for 13 species of Southeast Asian freshwater puffer fish that were previouslyassigned tothe genus Tetraodon . Pao is derived from the local name for puffer fish in Thailand and Laos ( Thai : "pla pao", Lao : "pa pao" ("pla" or "pa" = fish + "pao" = purse)).
features
Pao species differ from all other Southeast Asian freshwater puffer fish by their unique, very elongated intermaxillary stem . Adult fish show a pattern of large black spots below the dorsal fin, which can develop into an eye-spot-like appearance with age . The spots are the same diameter as the eyes or larger. Smaller black spots, which can also be light or orange in the middle, pattern the rest of the body. Young fish have a single orange spot in the middle of the body below the dorsal fin. There is only one tubular nostril with two skin flaps on each side of the head. The top and bottom sidelines are connected to each other. There are a few spines on the sides of the body.
Pao differs from the genus Leiodon , which shows a very pronounced sexual dimorphism , in that it has little or no sexual dimorphism. In some species the males have a dark gray or black belly with a whitish, reticulate mark.
species
- Pao abei (Roberts, 1998)
- Pao baileyi (Sontirat, 1985)
- Pao bergii (Popta, 1905)
- Pao brevirostris (Benl, 1957)
- Pao cambodgiensis (Chabanaud, 1923)
- Pao cochinchinensis (Steindachner, 1866)
- Pao fangi (Pellegrin & Chevey, 1940)
- Pao hilgendorfii (Popta, 1905)
- Pao leiurus (Bleeker, 1850) ( type species )
- Pao ocellaris (Klausewitz, 1957)
- Pao palembangensis (Bleeker, 1851)
- Pao palustris (Saenjundaeng, Vidthayanon & Grudpun, 2013) - possibly syn. From Pao brevirostris
- Pao suvattii (Sontirat & Soonthornsatit, 1985)
- Pao turgidus (Kottelat, 2000)
literature
- Maurice Kottelat : The fishes of the inland waters of Southeast Asia: A catalog and core bibliography of the fishes known to occur in freshwaters, mangroves and estuaries. (PDF; 6.6 MB) The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, November 2013, Supplement No. 27, pp. 483-484.
Web links
Pao on Fishbase.org (English)