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While in Gabon I was able to have several lengthy discussions with Anton Lamboj and Cyrille Dening (a Cameroon fish exporter) about the status of 'aberrant' P. taeniatus populations in Cameroon. Two populations in particular, Muyuka and Njanje, appear to be the result of artificial introductions from Southern Cameroon fish.
An ex-pat Austrian living in Cameroon is known to have released fish from the Kribi area into waters closer to his home in east-central Cameroon (Kumba... near Lake Barombi Mbo) so that collecting them for export would be easier. A month ago, some fish of the Muyuka strain were collected from a stream the Austrian directed the collectors to east of Kumba... way outside the natural range of any P. taeniatus. The area of Muyuka is also far inland from the natural ranges of the species, and it is now suspected that this person established the Muyuka population many years ago (he has been in Cameroon for a very long time).
When hobbyist/scientist collectors 'discovered' the fish in the stream near the town of Muyuka, they labeled it as a new population. We now suspect that it is not a valid variation. One of the clues pointing to this comes from some recent comprehensive work done with DNA comparisons of the Cameroon populations. There are three different groups of P. taeniatus that are clearly defined if the data from Muyuka and Njanje are ignored: the Moliwe population, the Wouri population and the Kribi/Lobe area populations. The Njanje and Muyuka fish just plain do not fit the pattern, and are more closely related to the southern races than the relatively nearby Wouri and Moliwe populations.
So... the circumstantial evidence is piling up to support the theory that Muyuka and Njanje are probably not real populations:
1) We know the Austrian ex-pat sprinkled fish around the area.
2) We have an aberrant pattern in the distributions.
3) We know that the physical locations of the Njanje and Muyuka populations are many kilometers outside the natural range of all other valid populations (which are all found close to the coast or tidal waters).
I still think that the Njanje is the prettiest P. taeniatus to show up in a long time... but it is probably a strain derived from Dehane or Kienke pioneers.
An ex-pat Austrian living in Cameroon is known to have released fish from the Kribi area into waters closer to his home in east-central Cameroon (Kumba... near Lake Barombi Mbo) so that collecting them for export would be easier. A month ago, some fish of the Muyuka strain were collected from a stream the Austrian directed the collectors to east of Kumba... way outside the natural range of any P. taeniatus. The area of Muyuka is also far inland from the natural ranges of the species, and it is now suspected that this person established the Muyuka population many years ago (he has been in Cameroon for a very long time).
When hobbyist/scientist collectors 'discovered' the fish in the stream near the town of Muyuka, they labeled it as a new population. We now suspect that it is not a valid variation. One of the clues pointing to this comes from some recent comprehensive work done with DNA comparisons of the Cameroon populations. There are three different groups of P. taeniatus that are clearly defined if the data from Muyuka and Njanje are ignored: the Moliwe population, the Wouri population and the Kribi/Lobe area populations. The Njanje and Muyuka fish just plain do not fit the pattern, and are more closely related to the southern races than the relatively nearby Wouri and Moliwe populations.
So... the circumstantial evidence is piling up to support the theory that Muyuka and Njanje are probably not real populations:
1) We know the Austrian ex-pat sprinkled fish around the area.
2) We have an aberrant pattern in the distributions.
3) We know that the physical locations of the Njanje and Muyuka populations are many kilometers outside the natural range of all other valid populations (which are all found close to the coast or tidal waters).
I still think that the Njanje is the prettiest P. taeniatus to show up in a long time... but it is probably a strain derived from Dehane or Kienke pioneers.