Bought a nice melanopus pair

WDLV · #1 (**permalink**) 01-11-2010, 11:26 AM

Not having much luck with taking a picture but they look exactly like the one on the upper left of this photo from wiki.
Anyone know where this variant occurs?

Photo: Nhobgood Nick Hobgood

This is a biotope I think I could replicate with little or no environmental impact.

vaporize · #2 (**permalink**) 01-15-2010, 05:56 PM

is that standard Indo coloration?

WDLV · #3 (**permalink**) 01-18-2010, 03:48 PM

I don't know what standard would mean. Apparently these things have almost as many color variants as A. clarkii. I think a guy on RC said it was native to PNG and East AU.

vaporize · #4 (**permalink**) 01-18-2010, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WDLV

I don't know what standard would mean. Apparently these things have almost as many color variants as A. clarkii. I think a guy on RC said it was native to PNG and East AU.

standard = anytime you order a shipment, they 'can' come in LOL

Actually with that RC guy's comment, I am wondering if these are actually melanopus or that australian tomato A.rubrocinctus

WDLV · #5 (**permalink**) 01-18-2010, 04:27 PM

They were sold to me as "tomatos" but I didn't think that was right. I was figuring melanopus or rubrocinctus. When I looked it up in Fautin and Allen's field guide, the pectoral and anal fins were what gave it away as melanopus.

BTW, it's not the best pic but here they are.

vaporize · #6 (**permalink**) 01-18-2010, 04:38 PM

Walt, what's the difference between melanopus and rubicinctus according to the books?

WDLV · #7 (**permalink**) 01-18-2010, 05:18 PM

I have to correct myself. The location was based on my own interpretation of this...
http://web.archive.org/web/200608191...aldon/mela.htm
...and it appears to be the coral sea type as best I can tell.

According to Fautin & Allen, "In the normal coloration, the black pelvic and anal fins easily distinguish A. melanopus from other single-barred red-finned species, A frenatus (South China Sea to japan) and A. rubrocinctus (northwestern Australia). However, Fijian and and southeastern Polynesian specimens are readily confused with the red males of A. frenatus. The best means of separation is the pronounced black border on the margins (particularly the rear one) of the white head bar in A. frenatus, which is lacking in A. melanopus."

lunsforj · #8 (**permalink**) 01-23-2010, 09:45 PM

Very nice pair, this complex doesn't get enough attention especially this species. I have always loved the different forms of melanopus.