Catch location and variations

[jaws7777]

One of my favirote poly discussions. Im with everyone on volta, faranah, and dabola for the pics but All are on diff substrate, appear to have different lighting, and one was taken with a flash atleast it looks like it was. I think there are small characteristics between the catch locations that are diff but really not big ones. My faranah looks more tan and dabola looks more brown in person doesnt show well with pics but ...endli is an endli, would bet if i had two more farnah and dabola they would all look somewhat different

 

[Dr.B]

I love that this thread was made because I have noticed the same thing over the last few months. While I love making comparisons, I think that we are starting to get way too specific and then by doing that we confuse ourselves. As stated earlier, scientifically there is only polypterus endlicheri endlicheri, and every sp. falls under that category. The sp. is only there to distinguish where it's from, and part of the reason is marketing. If you take 10 of the same sp. you can probably find some similarities, but you can also find some differences. One of the things I've noticed is that most of the differences we see are color and headshape. Color is something I think can for the most part be attributed to the area it's caught in because of camoflauge. Headshape can honestly vary between variants so I don't think that's something that can be held to one variant specifically. Another thing that has really triggered all this talk is the endlicheri sp. Dabola. Once it came along there was originally comparisons between it and the sp. Dabola. And from there we started shortening it and just calling it Dabola which is also interpreted as a wild hybrid (making some things even more confusing). I think the sp. is starting to become too much of factor in how we judge endlicheri rather than just describing where they're from. I think comparing endli to endli is awesome and really interesting, but in the end they are all still endlicheri and while yes they are the same polyptetus endlicheri endlicheri I think it's really cool to have multiple variants just to see differences and similarities in general. So I think what I'm trying to say is recently we've been trying to do things like determine a variant by factors that vary even between the variants.

 

[DMD123]

That's assuming u r not tricking us and none of them r Dabola lol but if one is its the 3rd one ..... But honestly to me the 3rd looks like a tikinso mixed wit a milo lol

Well the third pic is my Dabola endli (Tinkisso river) from Toyin. Actually the pic was during the power feed time so it is thick. Since I cut back on feedings it does not have that look of a thick body to head and its a lot more distinctive in shape. The color has darkened too since the black sand was added whereas it was almost pinkish/tan before.

 

[Askaleymanfish]

Honestly I have never really been the one to debate the endli sp. because iv always thought most look pretty much the same obviously some diff in some but they all look very close ...... Iv always been the lap sp debater haha

 

[Polyaddict86]

Dosent lap's have different varients too? Or they are totally different species? Ex. Koliba,koloton,nigerian or PBB.

 

[moe214]

Dosent lap's have different varients too? Or they are totally different species? Ex. Koliba,koloton,nigerian or PBB.

Polypterus bichir bichir is its own species, polypterus bichir lapradei is its own species. There are differences between these species catch locations as there are for endli. They are caught at different locations and show slight differences. What's noticed the most is really the color, Nigerians sport more of a green compared to Guinea. And koliba and koloton I believe are believed to be separate species or just another lap variant. I personally notice know morphological difference between laps and pbb.

 

[Askaleymanfish]

Yes diff variants but they r much easier to distinguish over endlis they each actually have a difference that is noticeable to them ....... And I may word this wrong if I do I'm sorry ...... Laps are a subspecies of pbb ... There was a post a long time ago about it that is why they look very similar to each other
Anyways like the guy above stated Nigerian lap displays a lot of green in them koliba tends to display bright greens and yellows kolotons tend to display a lot of tans and Browns guinea i know the least about but from what I have seen tend to display crazier patterns than the normal lap patterns and faranah laps r just crazy in general no 2 look alike they all look diff from one another they r deff my fav because of that if u look at my old threads u will find that my old faranah had blue stripes that would turn black sometimes then back to blue it was amazeing looking ...... I miss that lap ...that's just my opinions from a whole lot of research and pics

Dosent lap's have different varients too? Or they are totally different species? Ex. Koliba,koloton,nigerian or PBB.

 

[Owens]

While Lapradei may have other variations like Moe stated above, they are more in line with the case of Volta Endlicheri VS Tikinnso/Dabola/Faranah, meaning the different variations of lapradei (such as Guinea and Nigerian) are completely isolated from each other creating the physical discrepancies between the two.

Dosent lap's have different varients too? Or they are totally different species? Ex. Koliba,koloton,nigerian or PBB.

If you are unsure about different species, take a look at the stickies on this board. Beblondie posted a wealth of information for anyone interested in the basics, although I don't think they mention anything about Sp., like Koloton or Dabola.

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/polypterids-an-introduction-and-primer-3-0.65770/

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...il-records-natural-history-and-anatomy.72999/

I love that this thread was made because I have noticed the same thing over the last few months. While I love making comparisons, I think that we are starting to get way too specific and then by doing that we confuse ourselves. As stated earlier, scientifically there is only polypterus endlicheri endlicheri, and every sp. falls under that category. The sp. is only there to distinguish where it's from, and part of the reason is marketing. If you take 10 of the same sp. you can probably find some similarities, but you can also find some differences. One of the things I've noticed is that most of the differences we see are color and headshape. Color is something I think can for the most part be attributed to the area it's caught in because of camoflauge. Headshape can honestly vary between variants so I don't think that's something that can be held to one variant specifically. Another thing that has really triggered all this talk is the endlicheri sp. Dabola. Once it came along there was originally comparisons between it and the sp. Dabola. And from there we started shortening it and just calling it Dabola which is also interpreted as a wild hybrid (making some things even more confusing). I think the sp. is starting to become too much of factor in how we judge endlicheri rather than just describing where they're from. I think comparing endli to endli is awesome and really interesting, but in the end they are all still endlicheri and while yes they are the same polyptetus endlicheri endlicheri I think it's really cool to have multiple variants just to see differences and similarities in general. So I think what I'm trying to say is recently we've been trying to do things like determine a variant by factors that vary even between the variants.

I'm glad you bring up Sp. Dabola VS Endli Dabola, this is one thing that gets under my skin the most! Perhaps its just me, but I really don't see the point in identifying catch locations unless there is something inheritably different from that particular location, such as Volta, Lake Turkana, ect.

Well said bro. Was actually gonna post this pic the other night to a similar thread. For me i love endlis so the more the better but if someones going to get an endli other than a volta looking for big differences between the common catch location imo its a waste of time and money. Waaay to similar plus we are judging these fish based off each others opinions...substrate, lighting, and genetics play a part...geez even when someone has two from the same location on the same substrate they can look totally different.

View attachment 1197121

Wow, that is a much better picture. That illustrates even better how these locations are not isolated and in fact quite close.

 

[Vancouver_98683]

In conclusion. There's only 1 species Polypterus endlicheri endlicheri and 1 subspecies Polypterus endlicheri congicus. Any other name or reference is to the country or river which they came from, i.e. 'marketing label'

The differences? Individual opinions of coloration, pattern, headshape, body structure to compare, and more importantly the satisfaction of knowing its origin.

 

[Hao]

In conclusion. There's only 1 species Polypterus endlicheri endlicheri and 1 subspecies Polypterus endlicheri congicus. Any other name or reference is to the country or river which they came from, i.e. 'marketing label'

The differences? Individual opinions of coloration, pattern, headshape, body structure to compare, and more importantly the satisfaction of knowing its origin.

From what I remember, the congicus is it's own species now. Polypterus Congicus. Not P.E.Congicus anymore. I remember King-eL posted a thread on this long time ago.