NEWS106
16
Raritäten
Wild-caughtmale
Rasboroidesnigromarginata
.Note the typical caudal-finandeyecoloration.
All photos:FrankSchäfer
obody had seen it again since then,
even though searches had been
made.Onlyone thingwasclear:thespecies
originates from the islandofCeylon,nowa-
daysSriLanka.Butalthough the renowned
ichthyologist Rohan Pethiyagoda had
made an intensive search for the species
forhismonographon the freshwater fishes
of Sri Lanka, it remainedmissing.
Rediscovery
On15thAugust 2010 the followingarticle
N
Anyonewho is fascinated by naturewill have an inescapable desire to
seecertaincreatures in the fleshat leastonce inhisorher lifetime. Idon’t
knowexactlywhy,but inmycaseoneof these fishes is
Rasboroidesnigro-
marginata
, also known as the Red Rasbora,Meinken’s Fairy Rasbora, or
Meinken’sMother-of-Pearl Rasbora. But the species had apparently dis-
appearedoff the faceof theEarth since its first importationanddescrip-
tionback in1957.
Rediscovered:
Meinken’sRedRasbora
byFrankSchäfer
byMalakaRodrigoappeared in theSri Lan-
kannewspaperTheSundayTimes*:
FairyDandiya swimsback fromoblivion
A rareendemic fish species thathas remai-
nedamystery for53yearswillmake it toSri
Lanka’s freshwater checklist after itwas re-
discovered in the streamsofAthwelthota
ByMalakaRodrigo
TheWildlifeConservation Society of Galle
(WCSG) research teamhadbeenbusy sur-
veying the fish instreamsofAthwelthota in
the firstweekof Julyhoping to findMartin-
stine’sGoby.The fishhadbeenscientifically
describedbasedonlyonasinglespecimen
collected from thesepristine streams.
Luck thoughseemednotwith them,until a
researchernoticeda fishwithdifferentcha-
racteristics in theirnet.Theyquicklyslipped
it intoasliding tank for furtherobservation.
It looked similar to theVateria Flower Ras-
bora (HalMalDandiya)which is rathercom-
mon in these streams, but its body depth
was less than thatof theHalMalDandiya.It
was about two cm longwith themaleha-
ving a distinctive iridescent copper-red
upperpartof theeye.
“We immediately realized thiswasaspecial
fish,”saidMaduradeSilva,WCSGpresident.
*imOriginalnachzulesenunter:
Differences incolorationbetween
Rasboroidesva-
terifloris
and
R.nigromarginata
:
- In all color variants of
R.vaterifloris
the lower half
of the caudal fin is orange red, the upper transpa-
rent,while in
R.nigromarginata
the lowerhalfof the
caudal finalsoexhibitsvirtuallynocolor.
- Theeye in
R.vaterifloris
has ablack vertical streak
that isabsent in
R.nigromarginata
.
-Only
R.nigromarginata
hasmetallicblue scaleson
thedorsal partof thecaudal peduncle.
