Mother-of-pearl harlequin
| Mother-of-pearl harlequin | ||||||||||||
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Mother-of-pearl harlequin ( rasboroides vaterifloris ) |
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| Rasboroides vaterifloris | ||||||||||||
| ( Deraniyagala , 1930) |
The mother-of-pearl harlequin ( Rasboroides vaterifloris , Syn . : Rasbora vaterifloris , Rasbora nigromarginata ) is a small freshwater fish that is endemic to the river basins of the Kalu and Nilwala rivers in southern Sri Lanka .
The genus name Rasboroides was chosen because of the similarity of the species to the genus Rasbora , the epithet vaterifloris is made up of Vateria , the generic name of an evergreen tree in Sri Lanka and "floris" (for flower) and refers to the similarity of the coloration of the fish with the flower color of the tree.
features
The mother-of-pearl harlequin has a high-backed, laterally flattened body that reaches a maximum length of 4 cm. Different populations differ in the color of the species depending on where they were found. It can be orange, intensely red or blue-violet and shimmer with a glorious mother-of-pearl color in incident light . The belly is whitish or orange. The fins are yellowish, the basal parts of the dorsal, anal and caudal fin are reddish. Males are slimmer and more intensely colored. Their dorsal, anal and pelvic fins are a little longer. The sideline is complete ( versus reduced in the case of a trigonostigma ). The anal fin is strongly indented. Their six split fin rays distinguish Rasboroides from Rasbora (five).
- Fin formula : dorsal 2 / 7–8, anal 3/6, pectoral 1 / 11–12, ventral 2/7.
- Scale formula : mLR 25–26.
Way of life
The mother-of-pearl harlequin lives in tree-shaded, clear and cool mountain streams with calm currents and a silty ground, often in areas with a large amount of dead leaves in the water. It feeds primarily on terrestrial insects ( two-winged bugs and beetles ) - which fall into the water - as well as on detritus .
literature
- Günther Sterba : The world's freshwater fish. 2nd Edition. Urania, Leipzig / Jena / Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-332-00109-4 .
Web links
- Mother of Pearl on Fishbase.org (English)
- Rasboroides vaterifloris inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: Pethiyagoda, R., 1996. Retrieved December 17, 2013.