NEWS105
14
othof these alternativenames are a
little difficult to comprehend,
despite thewidespreaduseof the former
in some countries likeGermany.The ‘barb’
label is somewhat confusingbecause the
harlequindoes not possess barbels – one
of themost distinctive featuresof barbs.
The second name is not particularly
helpful either because
T. heteromorpha
is
no redder than its close relative, the false
harlequin, or lamb chop, or Espe’s rasbora
(
T.espei
),or has the redborder to thedark
B
Everyone, or so it seems, has kept harlequin rasboras (
Trigonostigma
heteromorpha
) at one time or other, such has been, and still is, the
popularity of this beautiful fish. Yet, howmany know that it is also
referred toas theharlequinbarbor the red rasbora?
FocusonHarlequins
by JohnDawes
blue body cone that the glowlight, pork
chop, or Hengel’s rasbora (
T. hengeli
)
possesses. Even the less well known,
criticallyendangeredSomphong’s rasbora
(
T.somphongsi
),which is rarely seen in the
hobby these days, tends to be redder
under appropriate lighting conditions.
I find the lamp chop and pork chop
common names particularly amusing
because they refer to thedark blue cone-
shaped area that is typical of the three
most popular species, though I think one
needs a bit of imagination to distinguish
between the lamb andpork chops! As far
as the harlequin itself is concerned, no
such common name has ever been
applied, presumably because the ‘chop’ is
too wide to resemble either of the other
two ‘chops’. Incidentally, the fourth
member of the genus,
T. somphongsi,
doesn’t havea ‘chop’at all. Instead, it has a
thin, but distinct, body line of the same
colour as the ‘chop’of theother species.
Theharlequin isnotonlyahugelypopular
Evergreens
This lovelywild-caughtvariantof
Trigonostigmaheteromorpha
iscurrentlybeing regularly importedbyAquariumGlaser.
All photos:FrankSchäfer
