The biotope of a new Harlequin rasbora is also home to an endangered Betta

Aiman Azminovich Biotope, Biotopes of Malaysia, Uncategorised 1 Comment

I’m Aiman Azmi, a student born and raised in Peninsular Malaysia. I have been observing and collecting fish around me since I was a kid, I’d eagerly follow my father, a biology professor, on any fish collecting trips he would go on and have been fascinated by freshwater ecosystems ever since. The habitat I chose to write about is a freshwater swamp in Tanah Merah. Situated close to the border with Thailand, Tanah Merah is a district within the state of Kelantan, Malaysia. The words “Tanah Merah” translate to mean “Red Earth”, and even as far back as the 7th …

BIOTOPES OF FLORIDA | NOTROPIS PETERSONI | THE COASTAL SHINER

Ryan Crutchfield Biotopes of North America, Uncategorised Leave a Comment

Notropis petersoni, known as the coastal shiner, is endemic to the south-eastern United States where it ranges from North Carolina, through coastal South Carolina and Georgia, throughout Florida, and west through Alabama to Jordan River in Mississippi (Image 1). It can be found in in many different environments including lakes and spring heads, sandy pools, and backwaters of creeks and rivers¹ and feeds predominantly on aquatic invertebrates (crustaceans), with plant material in it’s diet being mostly incidental². N. petersoni has a black stripe along its side which wraps around the snout and often there is another lighter stripe above the …

Biotopes of Hong Kong | Hill Stream Habitats | Blue Neon Stiphodon

Jeffery Chan Biotope, Biotopes of Hong Kong, Conservation 1 Comment

Hill stream habitats in Hong Kong are home to some of the most endearing and enigmatic fishes on Earth. These oxygen-rich, cool mountain streams or often, torrential rivers, provide crucial habitat, not only for exclusively freshwater dwelling species, but also form important migratory routes and nurseries for anadromous, amphidromous and catadromous fishes, those which migrate upriver, those with complex breeding strategies involving both fresh and saline systems and those which migrate downriver to the sea to spawn, respectively. One Hong Kong hill stream species which is particularly fascinating is the goby Stiphodon atropurpureus. From their striking iridescence, their adaptation of …

Biotopes of South Africa | Pseudocrenilabrus philander | The Southern Mouthbrooder

Chris Englezou Biotope, Biotopes of Africa, Uncategorised Leave a Comment

Pseudocrenilabrus philander is arguably one of the most underrated fish species found in the aquarium hobby, albeit rarely. In nature, it is known from a wide range of habitats, including streams, lakes, and ponds and some populations are even known to exist in slightly brackish waters¹. The species is found in biotopes across the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Angola, Namibia, Zambia, Tanzania, Botswana, Mozambique and Swaziland and the population featured in this article were collected and photographed just this week along the Hex River near Rustenburg, South Africa by aquatic researcher Russell Brian Tate. Research has …

The Rio Files: Rheophilic species and their biotopes | Teleocichla centisquama

C.E. Fish Essentials Biotope, Biotopes of South America, Uncategorised Leave a Comment

Teleocichla centisquama was described as a new species from the region of Altamira along the Rio Xingu in 2002 by scientists, Ivan Sazima and Jansen Zuanon. The following article includes excerpts from the species description and outlines a little about the habitat, plights and behaviour of this endearing, but highly threatened rheophilic cichlid. T. centisquama dwells on rocky bottom rapids with moderate to strong water flow, It perches solitarily atop boulders, where it maintains its pectoral fins and hind body in contact with the rock and often adopts a sigmoid posture(possibly to maintain hold in the strong current). On boulders …

Biotopes of Sierra Leone | Epiplatys annulatus| The Clown Killifish

C.E. Fish Essentials Biotope, Biotopes of Africa, Uncategorised Leave a Comment

The Clown Killifish or Banded Panchax (Epiplatys annulatus) is a species of fish in the family Nothobranchiidae, an African rivuline, native to freshwater habitats in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in West Africa. (Fishbase) The climate across its range is hot and wet with a pronounced wet season between April-May and October-November), and most rivers tend to run perennially. The water is generally warm, soft and acidic but much primary rainforest has been destroyed with surviving pockets existing as protected forest reserves in many cases. Kasewe is one such reserve in Moyamba district, Sierra Leone, and comprises an area of …

Biotopes of Cameroon| Benitochromis nigrodorsalis

C.E. Fish Essentials Biotope, Biotopes of Africa Leave a Comment

Benitochromis is a small genus of cichlid fishes that are endemic to riverine and lake habitats in Middle Africa (Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, including the island of Bioko). Several of these species were originally assigned to the genus Chromidotilapia. The genus Benitochromis was erected by Dr Anton Lamboj in 2001 and currently contains six species: B. finleyi, B. batesii, B. conjunctus, B. nigrodorsalis, B. ufermanni and B. riomuniensis. It is also possible that there are a number of other Benitochromis species yet to be described. Benitochromis nigrodorsalis is a benthopelagic, non-migratory species typically occupying habitats with a pH range from …

Biotopes of Brunei | Cyprinid diversity in the blackwaters of the Lumut River

Zaheer Afie Biotope Leave a Comment

We have embarked on our next adventure, which this time around takes us all the way to the upper stretches of the Lumut River. The Sungai (River) Lumut is located in Belait District, the largest district in Brunei Darussalam and has a length of approximately 14km+ which starts at Lumut beach seems to end somewhere in the region of its arrival to the Labi road; it is an independent river and not connected to the Belait river. Our collection site is located next to the Telisai Lumut Highway in similar habitat to our previous trip to the  Upper Telamba river. …

Biotopes of the Caribbean | The only biotope of the Laguna Bávaro Pupfish

Marcelo Fernandez Biotope 4 Comments

A Killifish that can only be found in one single lagoon  Who would believe that there are fishes around the world that exist only in one very small lagoon and nowhere else? Well, this is the case here  and we only find this Killi in the Bávaro Lagoon, Higuey, Dominican Republic. Several times I have had the fortune of being in the Dominican lands and it is something I recommend to all those who love good beaches! But of course, also for the aquarium  enthusiasts because there are several varieties of native Limia sp. and Cyprinodon sp. that we can easily …

Biotopes of Peru | The Madre de Dios drainage

Ian Fuller Biotope, Biotopes of South America 1 Comment

In recent years I have made several visits to the states of Cusco and Madre de Dios in Peru, and have collected fishes in a great many location, from the low levels of the rain forest rivers and streams up to 1200 meters in the Andean cloud forest. All of the sampled rivers and streams eventually drain into the Rio Madre de Dios, which in turn drains into the Rio Madeira. Here I will try and show the biodiversity, not only of rivers and streams, but also in the flora and fauna that surround them. Our home base is situated …