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| Melanotaenia japenensis - photo© Gerald Allen |
Allen and Cross, 1980
Japen Rainbowfish
Description
Adult are mauve with silvery reflections on the back and sides. There is a red-orange horizontal stripe between each scale row on the body. Males have red-orange dorsal, anal, and caudal fins.
Distribution
Collected near Serui, Japen Island. Japen Island (also called Yapen Island) is situated in the gulf (Teluk Sarera) on the north coast of West Papua.
Habitat & Ecology
Rocky rainforest streams at lower elevations on the southern side of Japen Island. Temperature and pH recorded at the collection sites were 24-28° Celsius and 7.2-7.8. Body ovate and laterally compressed. Growing to a length of around 11 cm, males are usually deeper bodied than females.
Remarks
This species was first collected in May 1955 by M. Boeseman, former Curator of Fishes, at the Leiden Museum. David Price who does missionary work on Japen Island collected specimens for his own aquarium, but is still unavailable in the general hobby. Named japenensis with reference to the Japen Island, the type locality and only known collection site for this species thus far.
© Copyright Adrian R. Tappin
Updated January, 2007.
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