PlanetCatfish.com

The fish I know as "C. microps" doesnt look anything like C. aeneus. How come they're synonyms?

What fish do you know as C. microps?

Jools

I know C. microps as the fish on page F-209.00 in the book 'exotic tropical fishes' (looseleaf)

Looking in the Cat-eLog, it is listed there under as a synonym.

Fishbase appears to say that it's a synonym: http://wap.fishbase.org/Biblio/BiblioSu ... ame=aeneus
That was the first page that google found when searching for "Corydoras microps".

Listing synonyms on C. aeneus in fishbase also lists it:
http://wap.fishbase.org/Nomenclature/Sy ... ame=aeneus

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Mats

Hi

i don't know, "why" microps is a synonym of "aeneus"...

microps is not a valid name for a Corydoras.

Here is the trade under the name C.microps or "micropsis" sometimes another fish is sold: A.pauciradiatus.

The “Exotic Tropical Fishes” is about as inaccurate a book as one can get for identifying tropical fishes. I believe the fishes listed as Corydoras microps in the older TFH publications are actually or something similar.

Silurus,
You are 100% correct in all respects.

Silurus wrote:The “Exotic Tropical Fishes” is about as inaccurate a book as one can get for identifying tropical fishes. I believe the fishes listed as Corydoras microps in the older TFH publications are actually

Corydoras undulatus

or something similar.

I think this is mainly due to the largescale changes (and improvements) to scientific knowledge of catfishes coming out of South America in the last 30 years- callichthyids (and even more so) loricariids were so mixed up due to undescribed species and lack of knowledge as to whether imported fish matched a described species. 30 years ago hobbyists didn't know much better- check out Burgess' Catfish Atlas for loricariids now and it's hopelessly inadequate.

However, I've actually got "Exotic Tropical Fishes" in front of me and can't get a match on their "C. microps with the Cat-eLog- Silurus' suggestion of undulatus is close, but pictures in the Cat-eLog lack the clear black markings in the dorsal fin shown on the Exotic Tropical Fishes page. I think it's an elegans-complex cory going by bodyshape and colouring- other than that I'm not sure as I can't find any with that dorsal fin blotch.

Now, this is just from memory as my book is in packed away far from easy reach, but I seem to remember that this fish/picture is the C. aeneus "geographic variant" with the full body sheen that came from south of the Amazon basin (Argentina?). With shifting export patterns (as well as scientific classification) over time this also makes a bit more sense that we see it in an oldish book with an oldish name.

I'd place a small bet if someone tackled the species (and perhaps restricted it to Trinidad), that we'd see this synonym elevated out to its own species and limited to that southern range.

However its current classification is, as we know, in with C. aeneus.

Jools

Am I breaching any copyright to quote ETF?
Corydoras microps Eigenmann & Kennedy "Light-Spot Catfish"
Range- Rio Sao Fancisco, Sao Paulo, Paraguay, Rio de La Plata
Temperature- 20-24 C

The text suggests its lack of popularity is due to its temperate rather than tropical requirements.

The pictured fish, however, looks (as suggested) nothing like aeneus- more like an elegans photoshopped with an Aspidoras pauciradiatus dorsal fin.

Firstly let me make a location correction for C. microps
"Type locality; Brazil, Mato Grosso, small lagoon near Rio Branco; holotype and 6 paratypes; holotype and 4 paratypes, up to 38 mm SL. listed by Nijssen & Isbruecker, 1980b: 207-208, as synonyms."

This is an image of the holotype and does in no way give an accurate view of what it actually looks like in life. There is no way that it can be compared to the original image in TFH, which to me clearly shows a C. undulatus, albeit the image does look touched up as seemed to be the practice at that time. Also if you look at the preserved specimen there are no signs of any body patterning, which C. undulatus has.I know the specimen is 105 + years old and will be well faded, but I have seen other species of similar age that still show body patterns.

Ian


Courtesy of the California Academy of Sciences

Hi Ian-
the holotype definitely looks more like an aeneus-group fish than an elegans-type one. I still don't see how the picture matches undulatus though (admittedly I'm only looking on pictures from this site, not others), unless the TFH touch-up has substantially changed the patterning (even taking the black out of the dorsal the colours don't match up) or the species is majorly variable. However, regardless of whether the pictured fish is undulatus or not, the holotype picture you provided is good enough for me to agree that microps is a possible synonym of aeneus.