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| Melanotaenia catherinae - photo© Neil Armstrong |
(de Beaufort, 1910)
Waigeo Rainbowfish
Description
Adult fish are bluish to purplish brown on the back and white on the lower side with a blue midlateral band up to 2½ scales wide. Dorsal, anal and caudal fins maroon reddish. Very similar in colouration to an unidentified rainbowfish collected by Heiko Bleher from Batanta Island in 1992.
Distribution
Known only from Waigeo and Batanta Islands in the Raja Ampat Group lying immediately west of the Vogelkop Peninsula, West Papua. Raja Ampat, literally translated to mean "the four kings", is a group of islands comprising Waigeo, Batanta, Salawati and Misool located to the west of Sorong, on the northwest tip of the main island of New Guinea. The Raja Ampat Islands are situated immediately west of the West Papuan mainland, between 0°20' and 2°15' S latitude, and 129°35' and 131°20' E longitude. The Archipelago and surrounding seas occupy approximately 40,000 km².
Habitat & Ecology
Freshwater creeks and springs situated in dense rainforest. May reach a maximum size of 10 cm, but usually less than 8 cm SL. Spawning females produce between 10-30 eggs each day for several days. Eggs adhere to water plants and hatching occurs around 7-10 days at a temperature range of 24 to 28° Celsius.
Remarks
The first aquarium specimens were imported to Germany by Heiko Bleher in 1992, where they were bred and distributed internationally.
© Copyright Adrian R. Tappin
Updated January, 2007.
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