subspecies?

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Has anybody ever noticed a diff. in the mouth structure on the under side of their lungfish?
What i mean is on my gray lf. the lower jaw covers the nostrals or breathing passages,and on my tan lf. they are exposed. would like to know if it's due to a birth deformity or because of a subspecies (this detail can be plainly seen when they come up for air) Can any body confirm this?

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[E_americanus]

that sort of variation is most likely that of the individual fish, as opposed to subspecies variation. a lot of African lungfishes tend to damage their 'lips' at some point in their lives, and they grow back in slightly different configurations. from the literature i've seen there really is no mention of subspecies-level variation in jaw structure.

good observation though, and definitely a characteristic that makes an individual lungfish unique --
--solomon

 

[me_wee_todded]

PICS

 

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If you open the thread lebeled PHOTOS by santory you will see what i am talking about(i don't know if his was damaged at any point or not)

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[santoury]

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Can you show us a pic of yours? I double checked my photo.

And I would agree that any variance in this would be on an individual basis, not due to a subspecies.

In addition, that big one, I picked up at a LFS at this size, so I have no background history on this guy. He does seem to be older, so that could be it, too. Anyone else got pics of an older lung to compare?