Leopold's scalar
| Leopold's scalar | ||||||||||||
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Leopold's angel ( Pterophyllum leopoldi ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Pterophyllum leopoldi | ||||||||||||
| ( Gosse , 1963) |
Leopold's angelfish , Pterophyllum leopoldi (Gosse, 1963), also known as Leopold's sailfinch or pointed head sailfish , is a cichlid from tropical South America and the smallest of the three types of sailfish currently recognized .
Systematics
The Belgian zoologist Gosse described this cichlid as Plataxoides leopoldi . He was of the erroneous opinion that the genus name Pterophyllum had been given to a genus of straight winged birds by Kirby since 1825 . The American ichthyologist Leonard P. Schultz shared Gosse's opinion and withdrew the cichlid genus Pterophyllum as part of a revision in favor of Plataxoides Castelnau in 1855. In fact, the question is katydids genus but Pterophylla written so that Pterophyllum Heckel in 1840 remains valid after the priority principle genus name. The holotype was found in the estuary of the Rio Solimões , about 90 kilometers above Manacapuru .
The generic name is a combination of pteron "fin, wing, sail" and phyllum "leaf". The species name is a dedication in honor of the Belgian King Leopold III. who had collected the type specimen .
There are no descriptions of synonyms for Leopold's Sailfish . The Pterophyllum dumerilli (Castelnau, 1855), which is variously given as a synonym, is clearly a Pterophyllum scalare from Párá (Belém).
The habitats of the high sailfish ( Pterophyllum altum ) and the sailfish ( Pterophyllum scalare ) are geographically separated from each other. A sympatric occurrence is excluded. Nevertheless, there are many transitional forms and morphological similarities between the two species , which document such a close relationship that it is easy to summarize both as subspecies of a single species. With Leopold Segelflosser it is exactly the opposite. Its distribution area is predominantly that of Pterophyllum scalare , but the two species can be separated very well using conservative taxonomic methods alone. In this context, Paepke points out the very inconsistent conditions in the Amazonian habitat , which is constantly changing due to floods and low temperatures , which shifts habitats and disperses and mixes populations .
features
There is no reliable information about the height achieved in nature. The species remains significantly smaller than Pterophyllum scalare and also differs from this species and from Pterophyllum altum in that it has a body disc that is not so high in relation to its length, the pointed head without a saddle-like notch and the straight to rounded forehead profile. Specific is a dark brown to black spot located below the base of the soft dorsal fin rays in the fourth vertical band. Leopold's Sailfish also has the largest flank scales (26 to 30) and the lowest fin counts compared to the other two species .
- Fin formula : Dorsal XI – XIII / 18–24, Anale VI / 19–28.
ecology
Leopold's sailfish is widespread from the Rio Solimões in the Amazon River basin to the Atlantic coast . Further occurrences exist in the Essequibo catchment ( Guyana ). Exact information about the conditions in the previous sites is not available. Leopold's Segelflosser also lives in small social groups, from which couples break away at the time of reproduction. It is an open-brooder that spawns on a vertical substrate and looks after its offspring as a parent family .
Importance to humans
Leopold's sailfish is a popular aquarium fish , which is rarely but regularly traded as wild-caught fish and is only bred by a few enthusiasts. In contrast to Pterophyllum scalare (sensu lato) there are no cultivated forms.
swell
- J.-P. Gosse: Description de deux cichlides nouveaux de la region amazoniane. In: Bulletin de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique. v. 39, no. 35, 1963, pp. 1-7, pl. 1.
- P. Keith, P.-Y. Le Bail, P. Planquette: Atlas des poissons d'eau douce de Guyane. Tome 2: fascule I. Batrachoidiformes, Mugiliformes, Beloniformes, Cyprinodontiformes, Synbranchiformes, Perciformes, Pleuronectiformes, Tetraodontiformes. Paris 2000, ISBN 2-86515-117-4 .
- H.-J. Paepke: Sailfish. 2nd Edition. Westarp Wissenschaften-Verlagsgesellschaft, Hohenwarsleben 2003, ISBN 3-89432-845-2 .
- RE Reis, SO Kullander, CJ Ferraris, Jr .: Check list of the freshwater fishes of South and Central America. 2003, ISBN 85-7430-361-5 .
- I. Schindler: Variation of the body height of Pterophyllum scalare (Schultze in Lichtenstein, 1823) (Telesotei: Labroidei: Cichlidae). In: Zeitschrift für Fischkunde. v. 6, no. 1-2, 2003, pp. 73-85.
- R. Stawikowski, U. Werner: The cichlids of America. Volume 1, Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-8001-7270-4 .
- L. Walschaerts: Catalog des types de poissons recents de l'Institut Royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique. (= Documents Travail. No. 40). 1987, OCLC 954586822 , pp. 1-67.
