I am still having problem identifying three types of Clarias
One is Clarias balatrichum,the other Clarias Macrocephalus and Clarias gariepienus.The pictures and information i have is a bit contradicting.Anybody can give me detailed explanation with pictures and specific characteristic of those species?
I am stuck with my project because of having the difficulty in determining which is which..
-Malaysian lad in need-
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It should be easy to tell the African C. gariepinus from the other two. The dorsal surface of the head in C. gariepinus is much flatter than the other two Asian species (which typically have slightly convex heads, compared to the more or less flat head of C. gariepinus). The color pattern of C. gariepinus is also more mottled than in the two Asian species, which have a more or less uniform color.
Telling C. macrocephalus apart from C. batrachus requires that you look at the heads dorsally. The supraoccipital in C. macrocephalus is very much wider than in C. batrachus. As a result, you can see that the posterior outline of the neurocranium is a very gentle curve in C. macrocephalus, but forms a somewhat blunt median process in C. batrachus.
yo'uve given me some very useful information.seem like i can get started a little with my project
what confiuses me is the color. i've bought a mottled clarias it is light pink in colour and has little black spot in some places in its body.but it is still small..i cant see the supraoccipital very well.but from what i know its a mottled clarias batrachus.am i right?can you give me some insights of the colour i should be expecting for c.gariepinus and c.macrocephalus.In malaysia we call c.macrocephalus (keli bunga)which translates into flowered clarias.does it have to have a sort of flowered pattern in its body? for the supraoccipital differences i think i understand..but what about those cross breed species?how do i class them into which species.IN this country cross breeding have become so widespread that its hard to find our original native clarias..
Light pink Clarias are almost inevitably C. batrachus. These pictures sort of show what I'm trying to explain in terms of color, but you have to remember that there is quite a bit of variation and uniformly colored C. gariepinus are not uncommon (although I always see more mottled C. gariepinus).
C. batrachus:
C. gariepinus:
Note the difference in head shape, which is the easiest way to tell them apart. I also forgot to mention that the head of C. gariepinus is a lot more granular than either of the two Asian species.
Ok thanx again
i think i'm starting to get the picture here.the head differences are quite obvious.
anyway i'll try to get a picture of those clarias i've got and post it in the picture section to clarify the species identification i made.but there are still very small.only abou 10cm only in length.i dont know if the differences can be seen or not in pictures.so colour difference seem to be a not so good characters worth looking at to differentiate these species.
For the cross breed species,how do we classify them.for example c.macrocephalus x c.batrachus.do we see which traits are dominant in the progeny?if batrachus trait is dominant,do we classify it as batrachus?
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