Female Marmorata?

[Peanut_Power]

Hard to tell what race form the pic you have thus far but I'd have to guess that it originates from the Rio Negro. The races from the Atabapo and Orinoco look quite different.

I concur. Rio Negro does appear to be the area of origin for this variant.

Does make sense about the vertical bands and spotting. Always mostly paid attention to the heads, not so much the bands. Good observation.

Well, were are the pictures? I hope you scored more than one!

 

[HerCrenVie]

I concur. Rio Negro does appear to be the area of origin for this variant.

Does make sense about the vertical bands and spotting. Always mostly paid attention to the heads, not so much the bands. Good observation.

Well, were are the pictures? I hope you scored more than one!

Nah I only got one. For me $80 means a month's saving...I'm 15. Is this variant super rare over in the US? There's only one place in Singapore that sells these Lents and that store imports directly from Jeff Rapps... and my fish was bought by the previous owner for S$280! Mad.

 

[CrystalizedHairs]

Based on this I interpretate it to mean that if the light areas seperating the bands extends to the base of the dorsal, and if the bands are spotted, it is lenticulata. Both pictures you provided show these attributes.

Basically, if the bands along the flanks encircle the spaces seperating them it is marmorata. If not, then they are lenticulata.

The marm/lent/strigata complex is so confusing. I definitely don't have any experience with marms or lents, but going off pics(Wayne's classic breeder pic specifically, http://www.geocities.com/napavalley/5491/marmoratapage.html), I think it could be a marm. The light spaces reach the dorsal and I think we'd all agree it is definitely a marm. More and more, I'm starting to think they, marmorata and lenticulata are one and the same(including the 'strigata/lenticulata' that have been going around). Hopefully someday soon, someone will clear up this crazy mess.

A side note on clearing up the confusion, if anyone has one of these guys die(or any other undescribed pike), place it in a 100+ proof alcohol(vodka or grain) and get it to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. Don't forget to provide as much information as you can (locale, living photographs, etc.). Maybe we can help the scientific community figure this out. Jeff Williams is the man to talk to there. Here's his contact page, http://vertebrates.si.edu/fishes/fishes_staff_pages/williamsjt.html.

 

[CrystalizedHairs]

BTW, your fish in question looks like a female(white band in dorsal), so it should be gorgeous regardless of what it is.

 

[Opiate]

niiice!!