Sometimes we obtain animals as so-called accidental catches. And sometimes these fish have never been reported so far from the area we got them from. The silver widow tetra (Gymnocorymbus thayeri) is a close relative to one of the most popular tetras in the hobby, the black widow tetra (G. ternetzi). Both look quite similar to each other, but the silver widow has a golden or silver basic colour and an attractive, copper-red eye.
The silver widow is reported so far only from the upper Amazon in Bolivia and Colombia and in Brazil. We now received three specimens as by-catch to a new species of Serrapinnus from Peru (see http://www.aquariumglaser.de/en/serrapinnus-sp-aff-kriegi-peru_de_1578.html). To the best of our knowledge this is the first report of G. thayeri for Peru.
However, it is possible that our fish represent also a new species. Thus we decided to name them cf. thayeri (cf. stands for “confer”, a Latin word that means “compare with”).
Lexicon: Gymnocorymbus: means “with naked crest”; this refers to the scaleless region in the neck. thayeri: dedication name for N. Thayer, who sponsored an important ichtyological expedition through South America from 1865-1866.
Common name: Silver widow tetra
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
| Angaben zum Tier | |
|---|---|
| Herkunft | Peru |
