Wine red fighting fish
| Wine red fighting fish | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Betta coccina (male) from the type locality, Jambi (Sumatra) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Betta coccina | ||||||||||||
| Vierke , 1979 |
The wine red fighting fish ( Betta coccina ) is a foam nest-building labyrinth fish in the genus of the fighting fish . It occurs on the Malay Peninsula and on the Great Sunda Island of Sumatra .
features
Betta coccina reach total lengths of 5 to 6.8 cm in both sexes. The body is slender, elongated and cylindrical. The head profile is tapering towards the mouth, in the population from the Selangor Forest it is rather rounded. The basic color is a mood-dependent matte to strong wine red, whereby the fins appear more intensely colored. The dorsal and caudal fins are lined with white. Again, depending on the mood, you can see small metallic-green glossy spots in the dorsal, caudal and anal fins . There are two distinct red spots on the gill covers, which can also glow gold in females. In the area between the head end and the base of the dorsal fin, there are dark spots, below the dorsal fin there is a large, shiny spot. Under certain conditions and during courtship, three dark body stripes are also visible; the middle one extends from the mouth over the gills to the caudal fin root. The clearest gender difference is the slightly larger fins of the males.
Other features of the external appearance depend on the geographic origin. The caudal fin of the nominate form can be slightly lanceolate and the sides of the body glow green in the imposing male. In the Betta coccina from the Selangor Forest, the tips of the pelvic fins are always bright white, not a plain dark red with black filaments as in the specimens from the other two occurrences. The glossy spot is also less pronounced in the fish from Selangor.
Occurrence
The type locality of Betta coccina is the Indonesian province of Jambi on Sumatra. In addition, the wine red fighting fish is widespread along the west coast of the Malay Peninsula, from Selangor to the southern Ayer Hitam .
Habitat and Ecology
Wine-red fighting fish live in the floodplains and swamp areas of the lowlands, mainly in stagnant micro and residual water. In rivers they are restricted to heavily weed and calm areas. The water in their habitats comes from swamp and bog forests with very mineral-poor soils and therefore carries black water , mostly without measurable degrees of hardness and with pH values well below 5. This is an already hostile environment, which also limits the availability of animal food . Betta coccina feed on small crustaceans, insect larvae and insects that have fallen into the water (approach food).
The natural habitats in Malaysia are extremely endangered by the rapid expansion of agricultural areas ( oil palm plantations ) and thus also the wine red fighting fish itself.
Reproduction
The male builds a relatively large foam nest between or under the floating substrate (plant leaves, branches, algae). Reproduction begins with a quiet courtship, during which the advertising male impresses and shows his bright vertical stripes. The brilliant red color only appears after a pair has found each other and the preparations for spawning have already begun. A not particularly pronounced lead swimming, with which the male lures the female under the foam nest, takes place in the circle swimming typical of fighting fish, in the course of which the female lays some eggs in her ventral fins, which are folded towards the body, after which the male immediately fertilizes. The non-buoyant eggs are taken into the mouth by both sexes, spat into the foam nest and, after the spawning process is complete, guarded exclusively by the male for two to three days until the larvae swim free.
Systematics
It was first described by Jörg Vierke in 1979 in the enthusiast magazine “Das Aquarium”, based on aquarium fish. Only through later research at the importer could the fishing spot, Jambi on Sumatra, be determined. Most of the later imports came from the relatively large distribution area on the Malay Peninsula, especially from the area around Muar in the west.
The wine-red fighting fish, which are widespread in the area of Ayer Hitam, were described in 1992 as a separate species of Betta livida , which can not be distinguished from Betta coccina either by classical methods or by molecular biology.
The wine-red fighting fish gives its name to the Betta coccina circle of shapes, in which nine (or ten) very similar species are brought together:
- Betta brownorum Witte & Schmidt, 1992
- Betta burdigala Kottelat & Ng, 1994
- Betta coccina Vierke, 1979
- Betta hendra Schindler & Linke, 2013
- Betta miniopinna Tan & Tan, 1994
- Betta persephone Schaller, 1986
- Betta rutilans Witte & Kottelat, 1991
- Betta tussyae Schaller, 1985
- Betta uberis Tan & Ng, 2006
and, depending on the view of the species status
- Betta livida Ng & Kottelat, 1992
Importance to humans
Interest in these small fish is limited to ichthyologists and specialist aquarists.
Because of its endangerment, Betta coccina (population Malay Peninsula) became the subject of the first international herd book for a fish in 1996, which was brought into being by the International Association for Labyrinth Fish with the support of the Cologne Zoological Garden . The coordinator Robert Donoso-Büchner closed the project in 2006 after it became clear that only the phenotype could be preserved.
literature
- Donoso-Büchner, R. & J. Schmidt (1999): Your hobby - fighting fish wild forms . Bede Verlag, Ruhmannsfelden, ISBN 3-933646-09-X .
- Michael Kokoscha: Labyrinth Fish . Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-8001-7431-6 .
- Vierke, J. (1979): Betta coccina nov. spec., a new fighting fish from Sumatra . The Aquarium 121: 288-289.
- Ng, PKL and M. Kottelat (1992): Betta livida, a new fighting fish (Teleostei: Belontiidae) from blackwater swamps in Peninsular Malaysia . Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters 3 (2): 177-182.
- Tan, HH and PKL Ng (2005): The fighting fishes (Teleostei: Osphronemidae: Genus Betta) of Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei . Raffles Bulletin of Zoology Supplement (13): 43-99.
