NEWS108
3
littlefishandworldhistory
ThestoryofthediscoveryoftheChinesePara-
disefishdatesback to1842,whenTheodore
CantorofZhoushan(formerlyTschouschanor
Tschusan,EnglishChusan)described thenew
species
Macropodusocellatus
.Zhoushan is a
groupofislandsofftheeastcoastof China.The
main islandwas occupiedby the English in
1840,1841,and1860andhandedbackonly
after theopeningupofChina for tradewith
Europe. Cantor (1809-1860),aDanebybirth,
was a doctor andworked as a salaried em-
ployeeof thepowerful East IndiaCompany,
whichwas responsible for theoccupationof
Zhoushan.Hewasinterestedmainlyinamphi-
biansandreptiles,and,forexample,discovered
anddescribed theKingCobra (
Ophiophagus
hannah
), the largest venomous snake in the
world, in1836,buthewasalsoverywelledu-
cated in biology in general. He authored a
studyoftheanimalsandplantsofChusan,pu-
blished in1842,whichcontained interaliathe
originaldescriptionoftheChineseParadisefish.
Heevenhad averynicewater-colormadeof
thefish,whichunfortunatelycannotbeshown
hereforcopyrightreasons.HoweverHans-Joa-
chimPaepkewasabletoreproducethiswater-
colorin1994inhismonographonparadisefis-
hes, albeit unfortunately only in black and
white,soyoudon'tneedtotraveltoLondonto
seetheoriginal intheBritishLibrary.
Theworld thusultimatelyhasanaggressive
economicpolicytothankforthediscovery of
theChineseParadisefish.
Muchspeculation
Letuscontinuewiththehistoryforawhile. In
1869 the trueParadisefish,
Macropodusoper-
A
The Chinese or Roundtail Paradisefish (
Macropodus ocellatus
) has long
been regarded as a rare jewel in the aquarium.That is agreat pity, as this
fishhasmuch tooffer theaquarist.
TheChineseParadisefish:
nevergiveup!
byFrankSchäfer
cularis
,wasthefirstexoticaquariumfishafter
the GoldfishtoreachEuropeandtriggereda
waveof enthusiasm.Perhaps theaquarium
hobbyasweknow it todaywouldn'texistat
all were it not for the Paradisefish, but of
course thatmust remainamatter for specu-
lation.ButthefantasticappearanceofthePa-
radisefishalsogaverisetospeculation:could
suchacolorful fishwith such luxuriant fin-
nagereallyexist inthewild?Manynaturalists
doubted it.BecausetheParadisefish,just like,
the Goldfish, originated from China, it was
speculated that, likeVeiltail andCo, itwasa
formcultivatedbytheChinese.
But inthatcasewhatwastheoriginal form? It
was thought that itmightbe thespecies
Ma-
cropoduschinensis
,describedby theGerman
doctorMarcusEliserBloch in1790.Butunlike
theParadisefish,whichhasaforkedtail,Bloch's
engravingshowsa round-tailed fish.When,in
1913,thefirstRoundtailParadisefishesbecame
availabletothegeneralpublic(infactthespe-
cieshad first reachedGermanyback in1893,
but thatwaskeptsecret) theywere identified
asMacropoduschinensisandgiventhecom-
monnameofChineseParadisefish.
However,theChineseParadisefish remained
largely unremarked and subsequently kept
dyingout in theaquariumhobby.Strange to
relate,nobodywroteaboutthefantasticcolo-
rationofcourtingmales.
Itwasn'ttill1989thatPaepkewasabletoshow
thatBloch'sM.chinensiswasjustaParadisefish
withadamagedcaudal fin,which iswhy the
ChineseParadisefish isnowknowntoscience
as
Macropodusocellatus
.
Majorproblems
Itwasn'tuntil 1983 thatChineseParadisefis-
Labyrinthfishes
Displayingwild-caughtmaleChineseParadisefish, importedbyAquariumGlaser in2011.
Portrait of a recently importednew formwith
a red iris.
