Melanotaenia duboulayi
| Melanotaenia duboulayi | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Atheriniformes |
| Family: | Melanotaeniidae |
| Genus: | Melanotaenia |
| Species: | M. duboulayi |
| Binomial name | |
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Melanotaenia duboulayi (Castelnau, 1878) |
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The crimson-spotted rainbowfish (Melanotaenia duboulayi), known less commonly as the Duboulay's rainbowfish, is a species of freshwater rainbowfish endemic to eastern Australia. M. duboulayi has also been kept in aquariums since the early 20th century, and is the original Australian rainbowfish.
Melanotaenia duboulayi was initially collected by Duboulay (du Boulay) in the 1870s from the Richmond River in northern New South Wales. It was scientifically described as Atherinichthys duboulayi by Francis de Castelnau in 1878. It was later known as Nematocentris fluviatilis and Melanotaenia fluviatilis. It was reclassified as Melanotaenia splendida fluviatilis following a review of the rainbowfish group by Allen in 1980. The current scientific name, Melanotaenia duboulayi, given by Crowley, et al. in 1986, is a result of the study of early stages of life. This study separated M. splendida fluviatilis into two species, M. duboulayi from the eastern coastal drainage systems of northern New South Wales and southern Queensland, and M. fluviatilis from the inland Murray-Darling basin system west of the Great Dividing Range.
Males reach maximum 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. Crimson-spotted rainbowfish have two dorsal fins very close together, with the first much smaller than the second. Their fin colours vary from clear to yellowish to red, with red flecks and dark margins which become intensely black in males during spawning activities. Larger males are distinguished from females by their brighter colours and can be identified from the elongation of posterior rays in the second dorsal and anal fins. Females have rounded dorsal and anal fins, which are smaller and lack the dark edges. A prominent spot of crimson red is seen on the operculum. Generally, the body is silvery-blue or green ranging through deep bluish or yellow tones. The scale rows are marked with narrow yellow lines and overlaid with orange to brilliant red. They exhibit considerable colour variations over a wide geographical range.
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Wikipedia