Melanotaenia duboulayi

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Melanotaenia duboulayi
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Atheriniformes
Family: Melanotaeniidae
Genus: Melanotaenia
Species:
M. duboulayi
Binomial name
Melanotaenia duboulayi
(
Castelnau
, 1878)
Synonyms[1]

Atherinichthys duboulayi Castelnau, 1878

Melanotaenia duboulayi, the crimson-spotted rainbowfish, less commonly known as the Duboulay's rainbowfish,

aquarium fish since the early 20th century, and is the original "Australian rainbowfish
".

Taxonomy

Melanotaenia duboulayi was initially collected by Duboulay (du Boulay), probably the naturalist and illustrator

Murray-Darling basin system west of the Great Dividing Range.[6]

Description

Male M. duboulayi reach maximum body lengths of 12 cm (4.7 in), but are usually less than 10 cm (3.9 in), while the females are usually smaller. They have a slender and compressed body shape, and have two

geographical
range.

Behaviour

M. duboulayi is

flake food
. They like open water and may form small groups around submerged logs and subsurface vegetation.

Spawning
occurs prior to summer rains, and the eggs adhere to filamentous subsurface vegetation and floating plant roots.

A controlled study comparing six native fish species with the

mosquito larvae than all other species tested and is a good candidate for mosquito control.[7]

Domestication

Crimson-spotted rainbowfish were favorably described by Castelnau in his initial description: "...He says the colours during life were most beautiful; that a broad stripe of magnificent blue ran along the sides, and two transverse bands of rich scarlet extended on the upper part of the fish towards the middle of the body."[4]

Amandus Rudel introduced the species to international aquarium hobbyists when he sent specimens to Germany in 1927, and it went from there to North America. In 1930, it was found as an escapee in the Mississippi River.

Crimson-spotted rainbowfish are still very popular with aquarists internationally. Australian breeders place greater emphasis of preserving the local variants. In their native range, they are also released into Australian dams to control

mosquitoes using local wild stock to prevent endemic variants of M.duboulayi from being lost by genetic contamination from non-local forms.[8]

References

  1. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2019). "Melanotaenia duboulayi" in FishBase. April 2019 version.
  2. ^ Crimsonspotted Rainbowfish, Melanotaenia duboulayi (Castelnau, 1878), Australian Museum [1]
  3. ^ Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara (14 March 2019). "Order ATHERINIFORMES: Families BEDOTIIDAE, MELANOTAENIIDAE, PSEUDOMUGILIDAE, TELMATHERINIDAE, ISONIDAE, DENTATHERINIDAE and PHALLOSTETHIDAE". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
  4. ^ a b De Castelnau,F.L., "On Several New Australian (chiefly) Fresh-Water Fishes", Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 3-pp140-144, 1878. [2]
  5. ^ Crowley L.E.L.M., W. Ivantsoff and G. R. Allen, "Taxonomic Position of Two Crimson-spotted Rainbowfish, Melanotaenia duboulayi and Melanotaenia fluviatilis (Pisces: Melanotaeniidae), from Eastern Australia, with Special Reference to Their Early Life-history Stages," Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 1986, 37: 385–98.
  6. ^ Melanotaenia duboulayi, Rainbowfish
  7. PMID 15532929
    .
  8. ^ Native fish for mosquito control, Queensland Department of Primary Industry "Native fish for mosquito control | Primary industries & fisheries | Queensland Government". Archived from the original on 2011-03-15. Retrieved 2011-02-24.

External links

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