Vaillantella maassi

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Vaillantella maassi
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Cypriniformes
Family: Vaillantellidae
Genus: Vaillantella
Species:
V. maassi
Binomial name
Vaillantella maassi
Synonyms [3]

Vaillantella flavofasciata Tweedie, 1956

Vaillantella maassi, the forktail loach, is a species of loach in the family Vaillantellidae, a monogeneric family with two other species, Vaillantella cinnamomea and Vaillantella euepiptera. They are from Southeast Asia.

Contents

Description

The genus Vaillantella is distinguished from all other loaches by its very long dorsal fin which has 59-73 rays and by its deeply forked caudal fin with a very elongated upper lobe. [4] This species is distinguished from its congeners by the higher number of rays in the anal fin. It has an overall brown colour, [5] Females are likely to be thicker bodied than males. [6]

Distribution

Vaillantella maassi ranges from Indonesia in Kalimantan and Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula as far north as the Tapi River basin and into southeastern Thailand. [1]

Habitat and ecology

Vaillantella maassi is found in the shallows at the margins of forest streams, often in streams originating in peat which contain "black water" although it can also occur in clear to turbid waters, with varying levels of tannin staining. The preferred habitat is normally shaded by the marginal vegetation and the forest canopy above. The water in these streams is usually low in dissolved minerals and can be quite acidic with a pH measured as low as 3.0 or 4.0 due to the level of tannins and acids released by the decomposition of plant matter. The substrates preferred are usually soft, such as sand, mud or peat and the loaches normally prefer to hide among piles of leaf litter. The currents in the streams this species occur in can be quite fast during the rainy season and where they are at higher altitude. Where they are sympatric with Vaillantella euepiptera, V. maassi appears to be restricted to higher altitude habitats than its congener. [6]

It is a predatory species which hunts for insects, small crustaceans and other small invertebrates in the substrate. It is also known to take small fish and fish fry. They are territorial and the territory appears to be centred on a selected hiding place. Other than this very little is known about the behaviour of this species in the wild. [6]

Taxonomy and naming

Vaillantella maassi was described by the German-Dutch zoologist M. C. W. Weber and the Dutch biologist de Beaufort in 1912. The type (biology) was collected from the Kampar Kiri on Gunung Sahilan in central Sumatra in what was then the Dutch East Indies. [7] The generic name honours Léon Vaillant, in an affectionate diminutive form by suffixing ella to his name, an ichthyologist at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle for his interest in and contribution to the knowledge of the fish of the East Indies. The specific name honours the German anthropologist Alfred Maass, the leader of an expedition to Sumatra which collected the type specimen. [8]

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Cypriniformes Order of fishes

Cypriniformes is an order of ray-finned fish, including the carps, minnows, loaches, and relatives. This order contains 11-12, although some authorities have designated as many as 23, families over 400 genera, and more than 4,250 species, with new species being described every few months or so, and new genera being recognized frequently. They are most diverse in southeastern Asia, and are entirely absent from Australia and South America. At 112 years old, the longest-lived cypriniform fish documented is the bigmouth buffalo.

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<i>Pangio</i> Genus of fishes

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<i>Yasuhikotakia</i> Genus of fishes

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<i>Lepidocephalichthys</i> Genus of fishes

Lepidocephalichthys is a genus of ray-finned fish in the family Cobitidae.

Botiidae Family of fishes

Botiidae is a family of cypriniform ray-finned fishes from South, Southeast, and East Asia. Until recently they were placed in the true loach family Cobitidae, until Maurice Kottelat revised the loaches and re-elevated this taxon to family rank in 2012. The family includes about 56 species.

Schistura prashadi is a species of ray-finned fish, a stone loach, in the genus Schistura. Some authorities place it in the genus Physoschistura It is known from just three localities in the Chindwin River drainage in Manipur, India. It is a benthic species of hill streams, preferring well oxygenated, clear, flowing water. The specific name honours Baini Prashad (1894-1969) who was an Assistant Superintendent at the Zoological Survey of India, who gave "every possible encouragement” to the describer of this species, Sunder Lal Hora.

<i>Schistura rupecula</i> Species of fish

Schistura rupecula is a species of ray-finned fish, a stone loach, in the genus Schistura. It is distributed through the eastern Himalayas from North Bengal through Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Uttar Pradesh in India and into Nepal. Its habitat is hill streams with pebbly stream beds while adults are often found in shallow water riffles and spring pools. The specific name rupecula means "rock dweller" which was given to the species by its describer John McClelland in reference to the hill streams around Simla from where the type specimens were collected. It is the type species of the genus Schistura.

Oxynoemacheilus samanticus, the Kizilirmak sportive loach, is a species of ray-finned fish in the genus Oxynoemacheilus. It is found in streams and rivers with a fast current over gravel substrate and is endemic to eastern Anatolia, Turkey where it is found in the Kizilirmak system which drains into the Black Sea, as well as the headwaters of the Euphrates.

Schistura sexcauda is a species of ray-finned fish, a stone loach, in the genus Schistura. It is found in the basin of the Chao Phraya River in central Thailand where it has been recorded in streams with a moderate to fast current, in riffles, over substrates consisting of gravel to stone. Some authorities regard Schistura fowleriana as a synonym of this species.

Yunnanilus altus is a species of ray-finned fish, a stone loach, in the genus Yunnanilus from Yunnan. It occurs in small streams with a moderate current where it moves slowly in shoals along the substrate. Its diet consists of filamentous algae and insects. The type locality is in Zhanyi County.

Yunnanilus analis is a species of ray-finned fish, a stone loach, in the genus Yunnanilus. The type locality is Xingyun Lake in Yunnan, southern China. The specific name analis means "of the anus" and refers to the six branched rays in the anal fin, a unique feature among the species classified under Yunnanilus.

Yunnanilus nanpanjiangensis is a species of ray-finned fish, a stone loach, in the genus Yunnanilus. It is endemic to China and uts type locality is near Agang Town, Luoping County, Yunnan and the specific name refers to the Nanpanjiang River.

Yunnanilus obtusirostris is a species of ray-finned fish, a stone loach in the genus Yunnanilus. Its type locality is the West Dragon Spring, which flows into Fuxian Lake in Chengjiang County, Yunnan. It mau be a species in the genus Heminoemacheilus rather than Yunnanilus. The specific name is a compound of the Latin rostrum meaning a "beak" and obtusus meaning "blunt", this refers to the species' short snout.

Schistura polytaenia is a species of ray-finned fish, a stone loach, in the genus Schistura. It has only been recorded at its type locality a stream in Tengchong County in Yunnan which is part of the Irrawaddy River system.

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Vaillantella, the long-fin loaches, is a small genus of loaches found in Southeast Asia. This genus is the only member of the family Vaillantellidae having been confirmed as such by M. Kottelat in his review of the loaches in 2012.

<i>Lepidocephalichthys hasselti</i> Species of fish

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References

  1. 1 2 Kottelat, M. (2012). "Vaillantella maassi". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2012: e.T187996A1843399. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2012-1.RLTS.T187996A1843399.en. Downloaded on 28 January 2018.
  2. ↑ Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2017). "Vaillantella maassi" in FishBase. October 2017 version.
  3. ↑ William Eschmeyer, ed. (2017). "Species that contain: Vaillantella and maassi". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  4. ↑ Tyson R. Roberts (1989). "The freshwater fishes of western Borneo (Kalimantan Barat, Indonesia)". Memoirs of the California Academy of Sciences. California Academy of Sciences. 14.
  5. ↑ Teodor T. Nalbant; Petre Mihai Bănărescu (1977). "Vaillantellinae: A new subfamily of Cobitidae (Pisces: Cypriniformes)". Zoologische Mededelingen. 52: 99–105.
  6. 1 2 3 "Vaillantella maassi WEBER & DE BEAUFORT, 1912 Fork-tailed Loach". Seriously Fish. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  7. ↑ Kottelat, M. (2012). "Conspectus_cobitidum.pdf Conspectus cobitidum: an inventory of the loaches of the world (Teleostei: Cypriniformes: Cobitoidei)" (PDF). The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. Supplement No. 26: 1–199.
  8. ↑ "Order CYPRINIFORMES: Families BOTIIDAE, VAILLANTELLIDAE and COBITIDAE". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. 2018. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
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