Hoplias sp. "Red"
- Thread starter Jungle
- Start date
No chance of this fish being from Sao Francisco. They look different in the pictures and even more different in real life.
H. lacerdae has a much sleeker mouth structure than any kind of wolffish.
Are sp Misiones a subspecies of mala?
Are sp Misiones a subspecies of mala?
Shark Aquarium brought in "Red Lacardae". A guy bought one, stared at it a few months, decided it was a mala variant and traded it off. I had a chance to buy the fish, did research and also concluded it was a Mala variant.
Should be able to search on here and find more info.
Not saying that is what yours is, simply saying the last "red Lacardaes" brought in weren't actually Lacardaes.
I remember this, I personally thought it looked like a Lacardae but it was a Mala. A number of people including Braveheartcalif proved so otherwise (you gotta give credit where credit is due).
Here's the link:
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?466877-Wolffish-from-Rio-Tocatins
Thanks for the info guys. Braveheartcalif seems to know his ish about the Hoplias species so I'll get in touch with him. Initially I thought it was a rare variant of malabricus myself, but the more I researched and looked the more I became confused. LOL.
Hoplias lacardae does not come out of the Sao Francisco. If this wolf was indeed collected from Sao Francisco, its either a H. brasiliensis or H. intermedius. These are more difficult to tell apart. The first has 38-43 lateral line scales, while the second (the one from São Francisco) usually has a bit more: 42-46. Also, H. brasiliensis is usually a rather small species (I think it is the smallest among all of those split from the former lacerdae-group). I couldn´t count with confidence the number of lateral line scales on the picture showing the entire fish, which doesn´t help out much. With the 1/2 pic and the location if its accurate, my bet would be its an hoplias intermedius. Pictures of the Dentaries would more helpful. The intermedius was originally discovered by Gunther in 1864.
After receiving new pictures from Jungle. The morphometric data reveals the fish called into question is indeed the hoplias australis. The h. australis is endemic to the Uruguay basin which shares a north western border of Argentina.
Thanks for all of your help BraveheartCalif, its nice to talk and learn from someone as knowledgeable as you. Perhaps the unique coloring can be attributed to it being a unique specimen or regional variation.
