Once more we were able to be the first who imported this pretty driftwood cat. The identification of Tatia species is not that easy. Although there is a very recent revision of the genus available, the species concept used there reflects only few aspects of coloration. So currently fish of very different coloration are lumped under the same species name. Our first try to identify the fish went wrong though and we listed them erraneously under the name of Tatia cf. gyrina initially.
Tatia dunni was described in 1945 from Colombia. From 1973 to 2008 it was regarded to be synonymous with T. intermedia. T. dunni is widely distributed: there are records of the species from Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru. However, the fish look quite different in distinctive populations. Our Peruvians, which were collected near Pucallpa and were named by the exporter “padre abad”, differ individually regarding pattern, but have all in common the golden stripe over the back as well as the bright golden bar before the dorsal fin.
Tatia dunni belongs to the larger species of the genus. It may become longer than 12 cm. However, sexual maturity starts at a much smaller size. In museum material, males were found to have the anal fin modified to a copulation organ from about 7 cm standard length (that is without caudal fin) on. This modification of the male´s anal fin is typical for all driftwood cats.
For our customers: the fish have code 295693 on our stocklist. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.
Lexicon: Tatia: dedicated to Charles Tate Regan, who was ichthyologist at the British Museum. dunni: dedication name. gyrina: from the ancient Greek word for “tadpole”. intermedia: Latin, means “in between”. This means that the characteristics of the species are intermediate between the characteristics of two other species.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
Literature: Sarmento-Soares, L. M. & R. F. Martins-Pinheiro (2008): A systematic revision of Tatia (Siluriformes: Auchenipteridae: Centromochlinae). Neotropical Ichthyology 6 (3): 495-542
| Angaben zum Tier | |
|---|---|
| Herkunft | Peru |
| Verfügbare Größe in cm | 4-5 |
