Mimagoniates microlepis
Encyclopedia
Mimagoniates microlepis, also known as the Blue Tetra (a common name
shared with Tyttocharax madeirae, Knodus borki
, and possibly other Characidae
as well), the Croaking Tetra (a name also applied to Mimagoniates inequalis
and Mimagoniates lateralis
), the Small-Scaled Tetra, is a species of tetra
in the genus Mimagoniates
. First identified by Franz Steindachner
in 1876 and named Coelurichthys microlepis, it has also been identified as Coelurichthys iporangae (Miranda-Ribeiro, 1908), Coelurichthys lateralis, and Mimagoniates iporangae (McAllister, 1990) besides its current taxonomic classification
. There is evidence of a variety called M. microlepis 'Joinville' which might be synonymous with Paragoniates microlepis.
tropical fish
native to South America
, the range of M. microlepis includes Venezuela
and the region of Brazil
between northern Rio Grande do Sul
and southern Bahia
. M. microlepis is benthopelagic and favors small to and medium-sized stream
s and river
s, especially clear coastal streams. It prefers temperatures of 18–23 °C (64.4–73.4 F).
with the species is evidenced by its variable phenotype
. For example, in this wild caught specimen (http://www.mikofish.com/gpage5.html), a brownish-black stripe runs along either side of its body from head to tail. Directly above this and touching it is stripe of similar size but of a lighter brown-beige color. It has a sort of blueish-purplish sheen all over. Except for this sheen, their two stripes, and their internal organs it is mostly transparent
similar to the so-called "X-ray Tetra", Pristella maxillaris
. By comparison, this aquarium
-bred specimen (http://aquavisie.retry.org/Database/Aquariumfish/Mimagoniates_microlepis.html) is mostly opaque and has much less prominent markings and this specimen (http://www.fishbase.org/Photos/PicturesSummary.cfm?ID=53344&what=species) caught near Ubatuba has an appearance somewhat between that of the two previously described. According to a 2008 report, "phylogeographic
studies based on molecular
data indicate significant differences among the isolated populations of M. microlepis."
Males have a modified breathing organ (described in the next section) with which they make sound during courtship
. They also have a modified caudal gland
used to release pheromone
s, a characteristic they share with all members of the Glandulocaudinae
subfamily.
s which makes a faint chirping sound when it comes to the surface to gulp air. This noise also plays a role in courtship
as the male chases and hovers near the female while taking gulps of air and expelling it to make a rhythmic sound. Croaking behavior may have evolved from a behavior called "nipping surface", a feeding behavior that occurs when the fish is searching for food; the fish often will gulp air when doing this. This gulping of air has no useful respiratory
function.
and is appropriate for inclusion in a tank with other species of non-aggressive
fish
. They accept frozen and dry food
but live food
is especially recommended.
According to one enthusiast:
Another expert says "they are an attractive fish that is worth shopping around for" but are not often for sale.
Breeding
them is not difficult and a spawning mop (a sort of synthetic plant
resembling the head of an old-fashioned mop
) may be used as a substrate upon which they can lay and fertilize their eggs
. The parents should then be removed so that they do not cannibalize
their eggs or young. The fry emerge from their eggs in two or three days. Newborn M. microlepis may be feed firstly paramecia
and rotifer
s. After increasing their size somewhat brine shrimp
may be offered.
Common name
A common name of a taxon or organism is a name in general use within a community; it is often contrasted with the scientific name for the same organism...
shared with Tyttocharax madeirae, Knodus borki
Knodus borki
Knodus borki is a species of characin endemic to Peru where it is found in the vicinity of Iquitos....
, and possibly other Characidae
Characidae
The Characidae, characids or characins are a family of freshwater subtropical and tropical fish, belonging to the order Characiformes. The name "characins" is the historical one, but scientists today tend to prefer "characids" to reflect their status as a by and large monophyletic group at family...
as well), the Croaking Tetra (a name also applied to Mimagoniates inequalis
Mimagoniates inequalis
Mimagoniates inequalis, known as the Croaking Tetra , is a species of tetra in the genus Mimagoniates. It was previously classified as Glandulocauda inequalis...
and Mimagoniates lateralis
Mimagoniates lateralis
Mimagoniates lateralis is a species of tetra in the genus Mimagoniates. Its common names includeCroaking Tetra ....
), the Small-Scaled Tetra, is a species of tetra
Tetra
thumb|right|250px|Pristella tetra — [[Pristella maxillaris]].thumb|right|250px|Golden Pristella tetra, a [[morph |morph]] of [[Pristella maxillaris]].thumb|right|250px|[[Silvertip tetra]] — Hasemania nana....
in the genus Mimagoniates
Mimagoniates
Mimagoniates is a genus of Stevardiinae, a subfamily of tropical characid fish from Central and South America. Commonly known as croaking tetras or chirping tetras because they can produce sounds, some of these fish were formerly included in Glandulocauda.They have a supplementary breathing organ...
. First identified by Franz Steindachner
Franz Steindachner
Franz Steindachner was an Austrian zoologist.- Work and career :Being interested in natural history, Steindachner took up the study of fossil fishes on the recommendation of his friend Eduard Suess...
in 1876 and named Coelurichthys microlepis, it has also been identified as Coelurichthys iporangae (Miranda-Ribeiro, 1908), Coelurichthys lateralis, and Mimagoniates iporangae (McAllister, 1990) besides its current taxonomic classification
Taxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
. There is evidence of a variety called M. microlepis 'Joinville' which might be synonymous with Paragoniates microlepis.
Habitat
A freshwaterFreshwater fish
Freshwater fish are fish that spend some or all of their lives in freshwater, such as rivers and lakes, with a salinity of less than 0.05%. These environments differ from marine conditions in many ways, the most obvious being the difference in levels of salinity...
tropical fish
Tropical fish
Tropical fish include fish found in tropical environments around the world, including both freshwater and salt water species.Tropical fish are popular as aquarium fish, due to their often bright coloration...
native to South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, the range of M. microlepis includes Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
and the region of Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
between northern Rio Grande do Sul
Rio Grande do Sul
Rio Grande do Sul is the southernmost state in Brazil, and the state with the fifth highest Human Development Index in the country. In this state is located the southernmost city in the country, Chuí, on the border with Uruguay. In the region of Bento Gonçalves and Caxias do Sul, the largest wine...
and southern Bahia
Bahia
Bahia is one of the 26 states of Brazil, and is located in the northeastern part of the country on the Atlantic coast. It is the fourth most populous Brazilian state after São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, and the fifth-largest in size...
. M. microlepis is benthopelagic and favors small to and medium-sized stream
Stream
A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...
s and river
River
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
s, especially clear coastal streams. It prefers temperatures of 18–23 °C (64.4–73.4 F).
Anatomy
M. microlepis reaches about 6.1 centimetres (2.4 in) in length. Genetic diversityGenetic diversity
Genetic diversity, the level of biodiversity, refers to the total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic makeup of a species. It is distinguished from genetic variability, which describes the tendency of genetic characteristics to vary....
with the species is evidenced by its variable phenotype
Phenotype
A phenotype is an organism's observable characteristics or traits: such as its morphology, development, biochemical or physiological properties, behavior, and products of behavior...
. For example, in this wild caught specimen (http://www.mikofish.com/gpage5.html), a brownish-black stripe runs along either side of its body from head to tail. Directly above this and touching it is stripe of similar size but of a lighter brown-beige color. It has a sort of blueish-purplish sheen all over. Except for this sheen, their two stripes, and their internal organs it is mostly transparent
Transparency and translucency
In the field of optics, transparency is the physical property of allowing light to pass through a material; translucency only allows light to pass through diffusely. The opposite property is opacity...
similar to the so-called "X-ray Tetra", Pristella maxillaris
Pristella maxillaris
Pristella maxillaris is the only species in the genus Pristella and is commonly known as the golden pristella tetra or X-ray tetra because of its highly transparent body. It is a widely distributed and adaptable fish, being found in coastal rivers of Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, and Venezuela in...
. By comparison, this aquarium
Aquarium
An aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants...
-bred specimen (http://aquavisie.retry.org/Database/Aquariumfish/Mimagoniates_microlepis.html) is mostly opaque and has much less prominent markings and this specimen (http://www.fishbase.org/Photos/PicturesSummary.cfm?ID=53344&what=species) caught near Ubatuba has an appearance somewhat between that of the two previously described. According to a 2008 report, "phylogeographic
Phylogeography
Phylogeography is the study of the historical processes that may be responsible for the contemporary geographic distributions of individuals. This is accomplished by considering the geographic distribution of individuals in light of the patterns associated with a gene genealogy.This term was...
studies based on molecular
Molecule
A molecule is an electrically neutral group of at least two atoms held together by covalent chemical bonds. Molecules are distinguished from ions by their electrical charge...
data indicate significant differences among the isolated populations of M. microlepis."
Males have a modified breathing organ (described in the next section) with which they make sound during courtship
Courtship
Courtship is the period in a couple's relationship which precedes their engagement and marriage, or establishment of an agreed relationship of a more enduring kind. In courtship, a couple get to know each other and decide if there will be an engagement or other such agreement...
. They also have a modified caudal gland
Gland
A gland is an organ in an animal's body that synthesizes a substance for release of substances such as hormones or breast milk, often into the bloodstream or into cavities inside the body or its outer surface .- Types :...
used to release pheromone
Pheromone
A pheromone is a secreted or excreted chemical factor that triggers a social response in members of the same species. Pheromones are chemicals capable of acting outside the body of the secreting individual to impact the behavior of the receiving individual...
s, a characteristic they share with all members of the Glandulocaudinae
Glandulocaudinae
Glandulocaudinae is a subfamily of tropical characin fish from Central and South America. In all species of this subfamily, a gland on their caudal fin is found almost exclusively in the males, which allows the release and pumping of pheromones; also, members of this subfamily have complex...
subfamily.
Sound
Like related species sometimes referred to as "Croaking Tetra" or "Chirping Tetra", M. microlepis has a supplementary breathing organ located above its gillGill
A gill is a respiratory organ found in many aquatic organisms that extracts dissolved oxygen from water, afterward excreting carbon dioxide. The gills of some species such as hermit crabs have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are kept moist...
s which makes a faint chirping sound when it comes to the surface to gulp air. This noise also plays a role in courtship
Courtship
Courtship is the period in a couple's relationship which precedes their engagement and marriage, or establishment of an agreed relationship of a more enduring kind. In courtship, a couple get to know each other and decide if there will be an engagement or other such agreement...
as the male chases and hovers near the female while taking gulps of air and expelling it to make a rhythmic sound. Croaking behavior may have evolved from a behavior called "nipping surface", a feeding behavior that occurs when the fish is searching for food; the fish often will gulp air when doing this. This gulping of air has no useful respiratory
Aquatic respiration
Aquatic respiration is the process whereby an aquatic animal obtains oxygen from water.-Fish:In most fish respiration takes place through gills. Lungfish, however, possess one or two lungs...
function.
Cultivation
M. microlepis is cultivated by aquaristsFishkeeping
Fishkeeping is a popular hobby concerned with keeping fish in a home aquarium or garden pond. There is also a fishkeeping industry, as a branch of agriculture.-Types of fishkeeping systems:...
and is appropriate for inclusion in a tank with other species of non-aggressive
Aggression
In psychology, as well as other social and behavioral sciences, aggression refers to behavior between members of the same species that is intended to cause humiliation, pain, or harm. Ferguson and Beaver defined aggressive behavior as "Behavior which is intended to increase the social dominance of...
fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
. They accept frozen and dry food
Fish food
Aquarium fish feed is plant or animal material intended for consumption by pet fish kept in aquariums or ponds. Fish foods normally contain macro nutrients, trace elements and vitamins necessary to keep captive fish in good health. Approximately 80% of fishkeeping hobbyists feed their fish...
but live food
Live food
Live food is living food for carnivorous or omnivorous animals kept in captivity; in other words, small animals such as insects or mice fed to larger carnivorous or omnivorous species kept in either in a zoo or as pet....
is especially recommended.
According to one enthusiast:
This peaceful fish likes to swim and you can keep him in a small schoolShoaling and schoolingIn biology, any group of fish that stay together for social reasons are said to be shoaling , and if, in addition, the group is swimming in the same direction in a coordinated manner, they are said to be schooling . In common usage, the terms are sometimes used rather loosely...
in the community aquarium. The aquarium should be plantPlantPlants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...
ed on the sides and background. In the middle you should leave a lot of free swimming space. A dark substrate and a dimmed light by using floating plants bring out the colours of the fish.
Another expert says "they are an attractive fish that is worth shopping around for" but are not often for sale.
Breeding
Sexual reproduction
Sexual reproduction is the creation of a new organism by combining the genetic material of two organisms. There are two main processes during sexual reproduction; they are: meiosis, involving the halving of the number of chromosomes; and fertilization, involving the fusion of two gametes and the...
them is not difficult and a spawning mop (a sort of synthetic plant
Artificial flower
Artificial flowers are imitations of natural flowering plants, used for commercial or residential decoration. They are sometimes made for scientific purposes .Materials used in their manufacture have included painted linen and shavings of stained horn in Egypt, gold and...
resembling the head of an old-fashioned mop
Mop
A mop is a mass or bundle of coarse strings or yarn, etc., or a piece of cloth, sponge, or other absorbent material, attached to a pole or stick. It is used to soak up liquid, for cleaning floors and other surfaces, or to mop up dust, or for other cleaning purposes...
) may be used as a substrate upon which they can lay and fertilize their eggs
Egg (biology)
An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...
. The parents should then be removed so that they do not cannibalize
Cannibalism
Cannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other human beings. It is also called anthropophagy...
their eggs or young. The fry emerge from their eggs in two or three days. Newborn M. microlepis may be feed firstly paramecia
Paramecia
Paramecia is a non-mineralized Ediacaran alga with a differentiated, compartmentalized thallus; it probably had multiple phases in its lifecycle. Possible reproductive structures have been identified....
and rotifer
Rotifer
The rotifers make up a phylum of microscopic and near-microscopic pseudocoelomate animals. They were first described by Rev. John Harris in 1696, and other forms were described by Anton van Leeuwenhoek in 1703...
s. After increasing their size somewhat brine shrimp
Brine shrimp
Artemia is a genus of aquatic crustaceans known as brine shrimp. Artemia, the only genus in the family Artemiidae, has changed little externally since the Triassic period...
may be offered.