Kiunga ballochi - photo© Neil Armstrong

Kiunga ballochi

Species Summary
Kiunga ballochi have a mainly transparent body with a silvery coloured stomach and opercula. The scales are thinly outlined with pepper-like melanophores. The midlateral line, ventral edge of caudal peduncle, and bases of dorsal, caudal, and anal fins have dense concentrations of melanophores. The dorsal fin spines are translucent yellow; the second dorsal, caudal, and anal fins have bold black borders and yellow submarginal bands. The remaining portions of these fins are transparent except the dorsal and anal fins that have narrow strips of yellow basally and the anterior half of the anal fin has mainly yellow membranes. The pectoral fins are transparent. All fins with soft rays are faintly outlined with black. They have a moderately deep body for a blue-eye. The genus Kiunga is most similar to Pseudomugil.

Distribution & Habitat
Kiunga ballochi were initially collected by Gerald Allen and John Paska in 1982 from a small tributary of the Ok Smak River, about 40 kilometres north of Kiunga on Tabubil Road, Papua New Guinea. They were found in several small shallow tributary streams flowing through dense rainforest with occasional sunlit clearings. A temperature of 24~25° Celsius and a pH of 7.8 were recorded at the collecting site. However, the full extent of their distribution range is unknown. Pseudomugil novaeguineae was also collected at this location.

Remarks
Kiunga ballochi was named in honour of David Balloch, a biologist with the Ok Tedi Mining Company. A few live specimens were brought back to Australia by Barry Crockford, but they were all destroyed in a tragic house fire in February 1983. Heiko Bleher visited this area in 1993 and despite sampling 37 streams along the entire stretch of road; he was unable to find any specimens.

In 1994, Charles Nishihira, an aquarist from Hawaii, while searching for Kiunga ballochi, collected a new Kiunga species. It is very similar to Kiunga ballochi, but has much shorter dorsal and anal fins. Additional specimens were collected in 2003 by Heiko Bleher and they were officially described in 2004 by Gerald Allen as Kiunga bleheri. Both species were recollected in 2007 by Mark Allen and Philip Atio.

Kiunga bleheri - photo© Heiko Bleher

Kiunga bleheri

In Aqua, Journal of Ichthyology and Aquatic Biology 8(2) Gerald Allen described a new species of blue-eye, Kiunga bleheri. On first glance their general appearance looks similar to Kiunga ballochi. However, the morphological differences, nevertheless, are also obvious. It differs from its only known congener, Kiunga ballochi, also from the Kiunga area, on the basis of its much shorter second dorsal and anal fins, significant modal difference in the number of second dorsal fin rays, 6 versus 5 transverse scale rows on the body, and in usually having most of the second dorsal and anal fin rays unbranched. The body colour is general semi-transparent with the second dorsal fin faintly yellowish on outer portion with irregular black margin. Maximum size about 2.8 cm. Kiunga bleheri is currently found in clear, shallow rainforest streams approximately 12 km west of Kiunga, PNG.

Heiko Bleher collected this species in 1991. Unfortunately on that occasion the live specimens were lost by the airline. On a second attempt in 1993 he caught just three individuals and they didn't breed. Then in 2003 he managed to catch a larger number in the same stream and after a flight lasting 28 hours they arrived safely in Europe. Kiunga bleheri is available in the aquarium hobby.

Literature
Allen, G. R. (1983). Kiunga ballochi, a new genus and species of rainbowfish (Melanotaeniidae) from Papua New Guinea. Tropical Fish Hobby 32 (2): 72-77.

Allen, G. R. (2004). Kiunga bleheri, a new Blue-Eye (Pisces: Pseudomugilidae) from fresh waters of Papua New Guinea, aqua, Journal of Ichthyology and Aquatic Biology 8 (2): 79-85.

© Copyright Adrian R. Tappin
Updated December, 2008.