E_americanus's ethiopian

[fwlion]

what species of ETHIOPIAN lungfish is E_americanus's MAL it seemed to have a WAY BETTER pattern then ANY Ethiopian lungfish I've seen on here as a juvie. and at the size it is now its pattern seems to be well defined where other MAL's on here just seem to have spotted tail regions

 

[E_americanus]

what species of ETHIOPIAN lungfish is E_americanus's MAL it seemed to have a WAY BETTER pattern then ANY Ethiopian lungfish I've seen on here as a juvie. and at the size it is now its pattern seems to be well defined where other MAL's on here just seem to have spotted tail regions

hey man,

thanks for the comments about the MAL. i'm pretty convinced (given the limited info out there on the subspecies) that this particular fish is Protopterus aethiopicus congicus. members of this subspecies seem to have a nicer pattern in general than the others, but of course within the subspecies there is also quite a bit of variation. the aethiopicus aethiopicus seems to have much less pattern, and the mesmaekersi seems to be less as well. i'll check out some of the photos/diagrams i have of these fishes and get back to you as well.

so basically we are looking at variation at the subspecies level, but there are also other factors that vary with the individual such as genetics, diet, locality, etc.

hope that helps for now--
--solomon