WildNothos
THE NOTHOBRANCHIUS SITE
Identification & Key to species groups of Nothobranchius Fishes
Adiniops Myers, 1924
N. guentheri species group
Male colouration with red shield on postorbital part of preoperculum; wide red chevron pattern on the sides; deep red caudal, sometimes with narrow black or grey margin. Female sometimes with narrow grey chevron pattern on the sides.
[south-eastern Kenya, coastal Tanzania, north-eastern Mozambique]
N. melanospilus species group
Male characterised by relatively large size (up to 65 mm SL); male with light blue body coloration and bright red caudal fin with a complete or partial black margin in males. Female often spotted.
[south-eastern Kenya, coastal Tanzania, north-eastern Mozambique]
Aphyobranchius Wildekamp, 1977
Smaller adult size (usually less than 32 mm SL); slender body shape; rearward positioned dorsal fin (predorsal length 62–73 % SL); rectangular shaped anal fin in males; relatively low number of dorsal fin rays (11-14); ctenii in males only at the lower operculum and lower preoperculum; regular cephalic squamation of the G-type; habitat selection near water surface (after Wildekamp, 1978; 1992).
[coastal Tanzania]
Cynobranchius Costa, 2018
Males with overall blue-grey body with crossbars along the base of the dorsal and anal fins; strongly curved dorsal profile with almost no transition to the head. Females have narrow grey crossbars along the base of the dorsal and anal fins and short light grey vertical stripes on posteroventral part of the trunk.
[eastern Kenya and southern Somalia]
Nothobranchius s.s.
nominotypical subgenus
Large size, with dark dots on male preopercle and female sides.
[central and southern Mozambique, southern Malawi, south-eastern Zimbabwe, north eastern South Africa]
N. rachovii species group
Male with alternating blue and orange or dark red-brown oblique bars on body; caudal with orange submarginal band and black margin.
[central and southern Mozambique, southern Malawi, north eastern South Africa]
Paranothobranchius Seegers, 1985
Plesiobranchius Costa, 2018
Sagittiform shape, including relatively long head with depressed and pointed snout, and lower jaw markedly extended; male colouration pale blue to blue-grey on the sides, with dense irregular pattern of very dark grey to black spots on the head and anterior part of the body; grey caudal fin with white to light blue subdistal band and black or dark grey distal margin; scales irregularly arranged on flank; scales extending on proximal and medial zones of caudal-fin in males; pelvic-fin bases separated by interspace; presence of an ocellus or multiple ocelli on middle part of basal portion of caudal fin in adult females and in juveniles of both sexes (Watters et al., 2020).
[coastal Tanzania]
Male colour pattern of distinct dark red-brown oblique bars on the sides; caudal fin plain blue with black vertical border; females with narrow faint grey oblique bars on sides.
[southern Sudan, South Sudan and south-western Ethiopia]
Zononothobranchius Radda, 1969
Male with distal and subdistal bands in the fins.
N. rubroreticulatus species group
Male with distal and subdistal bands in all median fins.
[Chad, southern Sudan and Uganda]
Male colouration with caudal and anal fins proximal portion spotted, distal part with light margin or light submarginal band and dark margin; an absence of a dark distal margin on the dorsal fin; an absence of spots on head; and absence of black posterior margin of scales. Female with faint dark grey reticulation on dorsal and posteroventral portions of the flank.
[south-eastern DR Congo, Zambia, north-western Namibia]
Male with grey distal scale margin.
Members of the species group in Tanzania are characterized by an anal fin with a slender to broad light medial band and broad black distal band in males (Watters et al., 2019).
[central and western Tanzania]
Anal fin with alternating multiple bands, including a red-brown or light blue distal band; the position of the first dorsal fin ray just in front of, or over, the first anal fin ray (Wildekamp et al., 2014).
[central and western Tanzania]
Male colouration with light blue scales with a broad, irregular reticulated pattern on the body; vivid red or orange oblique bars on the head and dorsum; yellow or blue anal fin, large vivid red spots on dorsal and anal fins; rounded head with a slightly concave to nearly straight dorsal profile, and predorsal profile convex from nape to posterior extremity of the dorsal-fin base (Nagy et al., 2020).
[southern Sudan, south-western Ethiopia, Uganda, south-western Kenya, northern, western and central Tanzania]