Peixoto confirm ID please

[Gamelle]

Hello,

Could you please confirm that this Apisto is a "sp Peixoto" ?

Regarding the the "copper-red band" characteristic, I would suggest this ID, but I'm a bit lost when I have a look to the photos in Mergus ...

more pictures : here

Thanks in advance

--
Stéphane

 

[a.d.wood]

Hi Stéphane,

Looking in Datz, I would be more inclined to ID as Ap. sp. 'Vielfleck' (A38).

Comparing the images in Datz of Peixoto and Vielfleck:

Vielfleck shows the red band in the dorsal, Peixoto doesn't, also interestining to note is that the hatching in the caudal fin is restricted to a centre band in Vielfleck (the same as your fish) while Peixoto has the hatching across the entire caudal fin.

I wonder if Mike (Wise) can shed any more light on the current status of the Xingu complex apisto's???.

Andrew

 

[Gamelle]

Thanks Andrew,

My confusion is linked to the specie sp aff "Peixoto" shown in Mergus CA 2, page 776. All the characteristics described in Mergus for this specie are respected here. Nothing is mentioned about the caudal pattern ...

--
Stéphane

 

[Mike Wise]

This is probably the fish that I got from Dr. Römer at last year's ACA convention. It is called "A. sp. aff. Peixoto" (a terrible name that means nothing, but I still use it). It originally was sold (erroniously) as "A. sp. Peixoto". Uwe says that it is reportedly from the Rio Purus, west of Manaus. This is highly unlikely. Your fish, however, is more heavily spotted on the face than do mine. It looks much more like the form introduced as "A. sp. Samaúma.

In my opinion it is a population of the A. sp. Xingu-A. sp. Vielfleck/Multi-spot species. This species shows variation in the amount of spots on the face and body, but the characteristic apisto dark markings are very similar on all the forms - as is their distribution in the lower Rio Xingu of Brazil. A. sp. aff. Peixoto seems to fit in the series of morphs in this way:

A. sp. Xingu - no black spotting on head & spots rarely seen on body
A. sp. aff. Peixoto - no black spots on face, few spots on body
A. sp. Samaúma - small random spots on face, only 2 rows of spot on body
A. sp. Vielfleck/Multi-spot - heavily spotted face and body

 

[Gamelle]

Thank you Mike for this very detailed answer

So let's call it A. sp. Samaúma ... it's a very nice specie

 

[Mike Wise]

"A. sp. Samaúma" is a specific geographic population of A. sp. Xingu/Vielfleck. Unless we know for certain that the fish are from the Samaúma area we should not use this name. Rainer Stawikowski, who introduced A. sp. Samaúma, now considers it A. sp. Veilfleck. I simply continue to call it "A. sp. aff. Peixoto". But if pushed to be truely accurate, I would have to call it A. sp. Xingu because I believe that Vielfleck is a morph of Xingu.

 

[Yonguy68]

Hello,

Very interresting post!

Mike, what do you think about this apisto?

 

[Mike Wise]

I would guess that it is a domestic, colorful form in the A. sp. Xingu-Vielfeck species. If it has the black spots on the flank all of the time, I'd probably call it A. sp. Xingu (Vielfleck). What was it sold as?

 

[Yonguy68]

Hello,

It was sold as sp Vielfleck and as F1.

The reason why it is so colorfull is that it eats a lot of cyclops.

Thanks

 

[blueblue]

Mike's answer is professional.

All the fish as shown in the photos of this thread are called
A. sp. Vielfleck in Hong Kong, i have seen both wildcaught and
german bred... all are very very very similar (and to some extent, i have
serious reservations on granting so many different names to the
fish which are virtually the same, it is confusing to many beginners
while it benefits the merchants and scientists most as each of them
could name and sell something (merchants sell fish under different
names; scientists sell some ideas and publish something insignificant...)

To be frank, i am a bit tired of looking at this kind of naming ...