Synodontis helenae

[Mika]

I received last week Mergus aquarien atlas no 6 and there was this syno. Fishbase do not know this species. Author is A Kotchetov 1995. Very good looking fish. Basic colour is brown and there were white belts acroos the body. Total lengt around 8 cm. Could this be hybrid from Russia?

[Silurus]

AFAIK, that is not a valid scientific name (according to the Catalog of Fishes), so it could very well be a hybrid.

[Mika]

Well how about S. galinae. That was introduced too in book and the same author( Kochetov, 1996). Looked much like S.eupterus but visible differences.

[Dinyar]

A different "HH" -- Harro Hieronimus -- introduced this fish on the Catfish List on 31 March 2000. This is what Harro said:

Hi all,
thanks to a good friend I was lucky to find the original description of
Synodontis galinae Kochetov, 1998. The text is chiefly in Russian, however, the
necessary parts are in latin letters so that the description seems to be valid
to me (if it is a new species at all).

<snip> The description was published in
Aquarium 2, 1998, pp. 4-5. Author is Alexander Kochetov, rather wellknown
Russian aquarist (ichthyologist????). The description of the species is very
poor (very, very, very, very poor), but, as mentioned, valid IMO.<snip>

Subsequent discusssion focused on whether this was a unique species or a growth stage of S. eupterus.

I don't know if has been subsequently accepted as valid.

Dinyar

[Silurus]

Synodontis galina was described by Kochetov (1998) from aquarium specimens said to come from the White Nile. Until I see the description, I would tend to think that it is probably S. eupterus, since the type locality of S. eupterus is also the White Nile.

[Dinyar]

Here's a translation of the original description of Synodontis galinae:

From ?Aquarium? issue # 2, 1998, pp. 4-5

Photo on top: Synodontis galinae, male
on bottom: female

We received these interesting catfish by chance, they came together in a box with some specimens of Synodontis eupterus which had been caught in 1985 in the White Nile. At that time it were still subsadult fish, and the differences between the two species were not as striking. The only difference was that the S. galinae looked somewhat lighter than the other fish. But at that time we thought that this was the result of stress during the transport - the colours may change through that slightly.

But during the growth of both species the differences become more and more striking. The body of S. galinae was rather massive, but the head remained small and little more flat at the tip of mouth. The ?sailfin? dorsal was not directed as directly to the top as in the other species and the last ray was somewhat longer and ?looked? downward. The caudal fin shows the large serrations typical for the species. The pectoral fin muscles were very strong so that the catfish could hold against strong current.

A very special feature of this species - colouration. The purple body colour and the fins with dots in the colour ?Bordeaux red? are typical.

Synodontis galinae Kochetov sp.nov. attain maturity with their 3rd year of life. The body length reaches from 9 to 15 cm and varies. The females are not as slender as the males, and the colouration of the males is much more intensive.

To produce offspring the fish were treated with hypophyse hormone suspension of the European catfish (Silurus glanis). Afterwards the eggs were fertilized with sperms with the socalled ?dry? method. The female was 14 cm long and produced 700 eggs. But only in 5% of the eggs fertilization had been successful. The egg development lasted 24 hours at a water temperature of 27°C. Starting at their third day of life the larvae started to feed on white mosquito larvae.

Normally the mature female is chased by several males through the aquarium. The reproduction can be stimulated with fresh, soft water and an increased temperature. The fry are active during the night, therefore the lighting must be not too strong, better very weak.

Adult fishes inhabit a certain territory and keep close to various hiding places like caves, grottos, tubes, etc. But they are absolutely peaceful to other fish species in the aqurium.

?With the mouth to the top?, i.e. upside-down, the fish ?migrate? rather rarely, generally only while searching for food. With the help of the swim-bladder the fish can produce rather loud sounds. With the help of the pectoral fins - additional crackling and squeaking. In nature these fish can produce weak electrical impulses which may be very useful in turbid water.

Translation from Russian to German: O. Grineva
Translation from German to English: H. Hieronimus

Note: This text cannot produce any systematic impact and may only be used for exclusively private purposes. There is no guarantee that this translation is correct.

[Silurus]

That has to be the crappiest species description I ever read.

[Mika]

Alexander Kochetov is wellknown with his brother when they wrote the article about breeding artificially Pangio siamnesis in the 80`s.Can`t say anything about that description´cause i`m not ichthyologist.

[Jools]

Alexander Kochetov is wellknown with his brother when they wrote the article about breeding artificially Pangio siamnesis in the 80`s.Can`t say anything about that description´cause i`m not ichthyologist.

If they artificially bred Khulli's, it's not a big step to artifically "making" a "new species" of Synodontis. Certainly the ego necessary ask someone to publish such a description would not be beyond a bit of frankenstien. I find it odd this species has not turned up in several years of increasingly regular shipments from that area.



Jools

[sidguppy]

Yup.

I've found plenty of Synodontis "species" where the first place of import was given as "Moscow"

I have yet to see a single species from either Tzechia or Russia (those listed as first imported in...) that is NOT a hybrid

[syno321]

I had the pleasure meeting with Mr. Kotchetov several years ago when a local pet industry rep brought him to my house to view my fish room. We later had refreshment over conversation. He impressed me as an interesting and genial person who seemed to have a good base knowledge of exotic fish. At that time he definitely had much experience breeding by hormone injection, (as did many others from Russia) and seemed quite comfortable with the ethics. I think you may be on the right track with respect to the origin of some of these mystery species of Synos.

[Jools]

Without getting too far off topic here, I do think there is a difference in using hormones to generate lots of young fish for the aquarium or food trades and using the method to cross fish that would never naturally cross and allow those hybrids to enter the trade (or indeed further cross them).

Jools

[syno321]

I couldn't agree with you more. We have a local lfs who has been importing from the Czech Rep. for the past year. They are knowingly selling hybrids as S. multipunctatus and decorus instead of labelling them truly. Even ignoring the moral concerns, I can't believe that it's good for business in the long run. People don't like paying good prices for fish when that's not what they're really purchasing. Some don't know the difference, but those that do, can have a negative impact on their business. (rightly so!)

[sher]

excuse me for the reanimation ot this topic, but I was asked about this "species" recently and would like to add some comments.

Look at http://www.marka-art.ru/catalogs/StampS ... p?id=28745

here are the Russian post stamps with aquarium fishes and Alexander Kotchetov consulted the artist, who created this series. in the upper row, the rightmost stamp, 1 rub in nominal displaying S. galinae. In the row below, a left stamp with Botia kristinae. As I know these fishes are named for the Kotchetov's relatives. These fishes surely not natural species, they are hybrids known in the USSR and Russia since the late 1980th. Look on the rest of the stamps, all they with either hybrids or fancy varieties.

the description of Botia kristinae and Synodontis galinae in the Russian hobbyists' magazine is not appropriate in many aspects. If these fishes ARE hybrids, they can't get species status anyway. there're no stored type specimens for these proposed taxa, so descriptions don't fit ICZN.

concerning of mentioned in the very first post a light belt on the synodontys body. this pattern is typical for young synodontis. I don't know is this feature typical for all species in the genus, but all species seen by me, had whitish belt on juvenile fishes. small-sized Synodontis nigrita keep this belt even while adult.

[Richard B]

I have seen what Seegers pictures as "helenae" a few times in the UK now - often labelled "custard cats" obviously due to to the colouring. I have also seen them labelled "yellow nigrita". I believe these are either hybrids or man-made colour variants.

I have seen only a single "galinae" in the UK, bent pectorals & the unbelievably blunt face pointed this one to be a hybrid.

just my twopenneth.........