We received a small number of this pretty cory from Peru. It was shipped under the nice name „Corydoras Brilliante“. In fact the dark longitudinal band of the fish shines in a bright emerald green when the reflecting light comes in the correct angle, but all in all the fish is „only“ a local variety of Corydoras elegans as it currently understood; C. elegans has a very wide distribution in the Amazon basin. However, on the other hand, a good number of doubts exist that all the „varieties“ applied to C. elegans really represent only one species.
A close look shows differences in coloration. The Peruvian fish have – in contrast to specimens from Brazil, the type locality of C. elegans is near Tefé – a short dark band in the neck that end below the dorsal fin. This shot band is well separated from the usual longitudinal dark band along the complete body that is so typical for C. elegans. This coloration of the Peuvian fish fits perfectly to the pictures made in the 1940ies from a species named Corydoras pestai. The scientific description of C. pestai bases on a specimen imported by the aquarium trade and exhibited with some conspecifics in the zoological garden of Munich, Hellabrunn. The type locality is unknown, and the type specimen destroyed during a bombing attack in WW2.
Nowadays Corydoras pestai is considered to be a synonym of C. elegans, but due to the lack of a type specimen this synonymization is not very certain. Maybe the „Brilliante“ is a C. pestai? Anyway, we name them Corydoras elegans „Peru“…
For our customers: the fish have code 229053 on our stocklist. Please note thta we exclusively supply the wholesale trade. Available in very small numbers only!
Text & Photos: Frank Schäfer
