Astronotus mikoljiin n.sp., a new Oscar from Venezuela and Colombia

[FJB]

I don't keep many cichlids, nor keep up much with new findings on them. But this one caught my attention, and I wanted to share it here. If this has already been mentioned and shared here, then my apologies. I hope somebody will be interested...
Apparently the morphological differences to distinguish the various Astronotus are not easily seen by lay people, and even classical meristic data are of little help. But apparently genetics leaves no doubt of 1) the new species, and 2) the monophyly of the previously known taxa.

 

[FJB]

Astronotus mikoljii (after Ivan Mikolji).

 

[Backfromthedead]

I had to look up the new nomenclature developments after seeing them on tuic labeled this new moniker. If im reading everything correctly, this may be the same variant we've seen sold for years at retailers as "Orinoco oscar", although I can't confirm this 100%. The fish pictured are certainly beautiful and unique oscars with that subdued pastel coloration and somewhat "lengthened" profile.

 

[PhishMon84]

Rapps sold them as Orinoco or Venezuelan Oscars.

He had them in 2017, mines a monster like 15" and 3" think

 

[Kevin@TUIC]

yup same fish. new official name. All oscars out of Venezuela and Colombia have not been described(until now). so they have correctly been listed by us as Astronotus sp. Orinoco or sp. Venezuela, or cf. ocellatus, and whatever provenance(s) they were collected in within those regions. This is the first of several others that have now been and still yet will be officially described. More on the way

 

[Hybridfish7]

yup same fish. new official name. All oscars out of Venezuela and Colombia have not been described(until now). so they have correctly been listed by us as Astronotus sp. Orinoco or sp. Venezuela, or cf. ocellatus, and whatever provenance(s) they were collected in within those regions. This is the first of several others that have now been and still yet will be officially described. More on the way

View attachment 1500430

Were these the Puerto carrenos you were selling in the spring?

 

[Kevin@TUIC]

Were these the Puerto carrenos you were selling in the spring?

correct. exact collection point is Rio orinoco @ Puerto Carreno

 

[FJB]

Quite a bit of additional discussion has taken place under this other thread-

Astronotus orbicularis vs. Crassipinis.

In part for that reason, I thought people would be interested in reading these interviews with Oscar Lasso, one of the authors of the paper describing Astronotus mikoljii (parts 1 and 2).
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“Oscar describes Oscar”: Interview with Oscar Lasso-Alcalá, Pt 2

Oscar Miguel Lasso-Alcalá, MSc. is a Spanish-Venezuelan ichthyologist. This summer, his team described a new species of Oscar fish in the journal ZooKeys.

In this second part of his interview, he tells us about the challenges in his work and shares the story behind the new cichlid’s name.

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Part 1 - https://blog.pensoft.net/2022/08/08/oscar-describes-oscar-interview-with-oscar-lasso-alcala-pt-1/

Part 2- https://blog.pensoft.net/2022/08/09/oscar-describes-oscar-interview-with-oscar-lasso-alcala-pt-2/

Cheers!

 

[Kevin@TUIC]

Also, for the record lol, Ivan Mikloji whom the fish was named after, was our direct collector and exporter for years until he was unable to export to us due to VZ becoming off limits.

 

[FJB]

Part 3 (final?) of interview with Oscar Lasso - https://blog.pensoft.net/2022/08/10/oscar-describes-oscar-interview-with-oscar-lasso-alcala-pt-3/