Six line rainbow fish

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Six line rainbow fish
Six-line rainbow fish (Melanotaenia sexlineata)

Six-line rainbow fish ( Melanotaenia sexlineata )

Systematics
Ovalentaria
Superordinate : Earfish relatives (Atherinomorphae)
Order : Earfish (Atheriniformes)
Family : Rainbow fish (Melanotaeniidae)
Genre : Melanotaenia
Type : Six line rainbow fish
Scientific name
Melanotaenia sexlineata
( Munro , 1964)

The six-line rainbow fish ( Melanotaenia sexlineata ) also six-line or fly river rainbow fish is endemic from the upper reaches of the Fly River in Papua New Guinea . The species from the rainbow fish family was first collected in 1937 as part of a prospect for gold, but was not scientifically described using these specimens until 1964 by the Australian ichthyologist Ian Munro .

features

The six-line rainbow fish has a golden yellow or greenish-bronze basic color, which shimmers iridescent in the light , with five to eight thin dark reddish or black lines between each row of scales and a distinctive dark horizontal spot directly above the base of the pectoral fin. Compared to males, females are a little less colored and the first dorsal fin is shorter. Males often have red colored lips. Melanotaenia sexlineata becomes somewhat higher back with age compared to the similar species Melanotaenia maccullochi and Melanotaenia papuae . The size of fully grown specimens is about six to eight centimeters in length.

Different color variations are known. In 2003, Heiko Bleher collected a variant with a blue shimmering back and orange fin tips, while Allen caught specimens with an iridescent turquoise-gold shimmer in 2007.

Melanotaenia sexlineata was often confused with M. papuae in the past , as Munro used specimens from the area around Port Moresby as paratypes in addition to specimens from the area of ​​the upper reaches of the Fly . However, these were later recognized by Allen as a new species and used by him in 1981 to describe Melanotaenia papuae . Confusion with the closely related species Melanotaenia maccullochi can be explained by the fact that this species also occurs in the Fly River - but in the lower reaches, but looks different there than the long-known variant of M. maccullochi from Australia.

Occurrence and habitat

In ichthyological investigations of the Fly River in the 1980s and 2000s, the six-line rainbow fish could only be detected in the area of ​​the upper reaches of the Fly River. It was often found in small streams north of Kiunga , or 830 to 850 km upstream from the mouth.

The species lives locally limited in the lowlands at the foot of foothills at about 100 m above sea level in small, slow-flowing rainforest streams that are clear but often tea-colored. The acidic pH values ​​measured there were between 6.1 and 6.5 with constant seasonal temperatures of around 25 ° C.

literature

  • Dirk Godlinski: Melanotaenia sexlineata - gold at the end of the rainbow . In: Aquaristik-Fachmagazin . tape 42 , no. 2 , 2010, p. 48-52 .
  • GR Allen, AW Storey, M. Yarrao: Fresh Water Fishes of the Fly River . Tabubil 2008, ISBN 978-0-646-49605-4 , p. 95 .
  • Hans J. Mayland: blue eyes and rainbow fish . Dähne, Ettlingen 2000, ISBN 3-921684-82-X , p. 148-149 .
  • Gerald R. Allen: Fascinating Rainbow Fish . 2nd Edition. Tetra, Melle 1996, ISBN 3-89356-201-X , pp. 140-141 .
  • Ian SR Munro: Additions to the fish fauna of New Guinea . In: Papua New Guinea Agricultural Journal . tape 16 , no. 4 , 1964, pp. 141-186 . (First scientific description)

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