Sticks and stones

'Sticks and Stones', acrylics and sand on canvas. Original painting 20x20cm).

Last Spring my family and I visited ‘Blijdorp’ (Rotterdam Zoo). Thanks to a new outbreak of bird flu, the aviary behind the giraffes was left empty. Thus we were forced to view the empty bird house with different eyes. And yes, my eyes wander quickly towards water parties. Water with small fish in it: sticklebacks. The gray-colored females remained at the water surface, the colorful males were hurrying back and forth along the bottom. An old love blossomed again. At home I took out my modest collection of fossil fish, knowing there had to be a fossil stickleback in there. A species from the North American Nevada desert that I had ordered via the Internet a couple of years ago. Few fossil finds are known in Europe; in the Netherlands (near the city of ‘Tegelen’), only one dorsal spine of Gasterosteus aculeatus has been found (Gaudant, 1979). 

Drawing below, top: Gasterosteus doryssus (artists's impression the way this fish probably looked like in real life); middle G. aculeatus (Three Spine Stickleback) bottom Pungitius pungitius (Nine Spine Stickleback). Scale bar 10mm.

The deposition along our former Dutch coast unfortunately was not suitable for complete fossilisation of fish. The Nevada desert was. Fossil sticklebacks have been found near Hazen (Lahontan Beds). Of course, dinohunters prefer to dig the ground to find large reptiles; small fish are literally and figuratively bycatch. Yet one has found a remarkable series of fossil sticklebacks at these quarries; specimens of the species Gasterosteus doryssus exposed in a number of layers of sediment on the site, representing a consecutive period of no less than 30,000 years stickleback evolution. Researcher Michael Bell ( Bell et al . 1989 ) has shown that ten million years ago over a period of several thousand years the sticklebacks sometimes had pelvic fins with large spines and sometimes no or only minimal pelvic fins. More recently research has shown that in Canada, Iceland and England, some populations, which have migrated from salt to fresh water for a longer period of time, still can lose those genes causing the pelvic fins to disappear (Bell et al . 2004 , Shapiro et al . 2004). The extensive study by Michael Bell is worth reading anyway. An interesting study of one of the most studied fish in the world! 
Oh and if you want to see ‘my’ fossils, they are now part of the collection of The Museum of Natural History (NMR 9979-1818). Specimens with pelvic fins and (be careful!) spines...

Also read my blog (Words and Vision - Behind the scenes) which includes a link to the original publication and news about my upcoming catalog on fossil Cyprinodonts.

References

Bell, M.A., 1994 - Paleobiology and evolution of three spine stickleback - in: Bell, M.A. & Foster, S. - The evolutionary biology of the three spine stickleback - Oxford University Press, New York. (Read this book - as PDF - for free online).

Bell, M.A., Aquirre, W.E. & Buck, N.J., 2004 - Twelve years of contemporary armor evolution in a threespine stickleback population - Evolution 58: 814-824

Bell, M.A., Wells, C.E. & Marshall, J.A., 1989 - Mass-mortality layers of fossil stickleback fish: catastrophic kills of polymorphic schools - Evolution 43: 607-619

Gaudant, J., 1979 - L'ichthyofaune tiglienne de Tegelen (Pays-Bas): signification paléoécologique et paléoclimatique - Scripta Geologica 50: 1-16 

Shapiro, M.D., Marks, M.E., Peichel, C.L., Blackman, B.K., Nereng, K.S., Jónsson, B., Schluter, D. & Kingsley, D.M., 2004 - Genetic and developmental basis of evolutionary pelvic reduction in threespine sticklebacks - Nature 428: 717-723

Additional information: the short documentary 'Making of the fittest'on You Tube.

The artworks in this blog can be ordered at my printshop. The painting (sand and acrylics on canvas) is available in full (as pictured above) or in detail (without the white borders); the drawing of the three species (without scale bar) is available in black and white and full color.

Poisson d'Avril

April Fool's Day is celebrated in many countries all over the world. In France,and some other French speaking countries, children will try to put a drawing of a fish upon your back. In other countries people will try to fool you by making you belief something is real while it's not.

On April 1st many photos are made showing remarkable, new discovered fish, like the Elephant Tang on the photo (left). Of course these photos are made for fun. Sometimes however, these jokes become a bit too serious. The German aquarist society DKG (Deutsche Killifisch Gemeinschaft) published a description of a new species in their magazine of April 1983. Although the description included a funny picture of a smiling fish (in fact the article ends emphasizing the special, distinguishing feature of the species is the upcurled mouth... a fake smile) and the remarkable names of the scientists who described the fish (Falsehood & Deceit, sic!); features which should have raised some questions, or at least some doubt. But even reknown aquarists were fooled. The species was included in the well known 1987 edition of 'Süsswasserfische der Welt' (Freshwater Fishes of the World) of German aquarist Günther Sterba. Thus the non existing species had suddenly become a true species of science!

The fish I have painted is an existing species, Aphyosemion australe. However; it is a fancy variety developed in 1957 by a German fish breeder Hjerresen. If hobbyists would have followed the system of plants it's name should be Aphyosemion australe var. Hjerresen. Instead of this simple system, the name Aphyosemion hjerreseni has been used, A name which is not valid according the rules of the ICZN (International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature), yet leading to confusion about its origin. In the aquarium trade this fish is sold as Orange or Gold Lyretail. Its natural ancestor unfortunately received another fancy name 'Cap Lopez'. I guess people like to be fooled...

Click here for the full description.

S.O.S. SIX

June 17, 2016 the second 'Nemo' film will be released: 'Finding Dory'. People within the aquarium industry already are getting nervous. Due to the popularity of Nemo - after the release of the first Nemo-film the sales of Clownfish raised with 25% - it is expected that Dory also will become high in demand.

Amphiprion ocellaris, Nemo's scientific name, is one of the most succesful marine fishes bred in captivity. Numerous color strains have been developed, making wild caught specimens almost unnecessary. 
Commercial breeding of the funny Dory, Paracanthus hepatus, has thusfar not succeeded. In Indinesia juveniles are caught and raised in cages along the coast. These specimens are sold as 'Captive Raised'. The young fish are exported when they reach a length of 4-5 cm (approx. 1-2"). If the demand for Dory will raise as expected, catching wild specimens may cause problems to the natural population. SAIA (Sustainable Aquarium Industry Association, a cooperation of trade and hobbyists, therefor already started a campaign to inform the public about the situation of Dory in the wild. 
Number six, as the fish, due to the remarkable pattern on the dorsal area, is called in Indonesia, deserves anyones attention. 


Please take a look at the SAIA site for more details on this subject, or watch the video above: 'Searching for Letter 6'. 

To create awareness on the situation I created a special artwork "S.O.S.-6". Collectible and valuable artworks which will be available in limited numbers. Artwork and additional merchandise (cards; mugs and Tees) are now offered on Kickstarter. 
Dory may forget everything...you shouldn't. Remind Dory!

Spitting image

A public aquarium without a couple of Archerfish is like a Zoo without elephants and monkees. And I’ve got to admit, their interesting behavior makes these fish very appealing. At feeding time many people will gather at the aquarium with Archerfish to see how these magnificent fish are spitting insects from branches above the water. Once an insect is hit, it falls in the water and…bon appetit! Although it must be said that in many cases the archer itself is not the one who gets the reward. Other fish will profit from fallen insects just as easy. That’s life.

As early as 1767 the first Archerfish was described as Scieana jaculatrix. In 1816 the genus Toxotes was created. The situation around this first description has only recently been clarified by Kottelat (2013). He had found the description of Cuvier, published in November 1816 and always accepted to be the first author, to be following an earlier description, mentioned in a supplement only, by Cloquet in October 1816. Credit where credit is due, even though it took 200 years.

The genus Toxotes has subsequently welcomed new members. Nowadays eight species are considered to be valid. All of them living in marine habitats, or brackish waters, from India to Australia. Most of them share an almost identical coloration:
Toxotes blythii Boulenger, 1892. Clouded or Zebra Archerfish, from Myanmar.
Toxotes chatareus (Hamilton 1822). Spotted Archerfish, from India to northern Australia.
Toxotes jaculatrix (Pallas 1767). Banded Archerfish, from Indo West Pacific.
Toxotes kimberleyensis Allen 2004. Kimberley’s Archerfish, from Western Australia.
Toxotes lorentzi Weber 1910. Primitive Archerfish, from Australia and Guinea.
Toxotes malaccensis Cantor 1849. from Malaysia.
Toxotes microlepis Günther 1860. Smallscale Archerfish, from Southeastern Asia.
Toxotes oligolepis Bleeker 1876. Western Archerfish, from Indonesia.

Several more species have been described but are considered synonym to one of the species mentioned above. Interesting to mention here is T. microlepis from Sitang River, Myanmar. Described by Blyth, 1860, who was unaware of T. microlepis from Thailand described by Gunther in the same year. Blyth’s microlepis is now considered synonym to T. blythii.  

A family known for such a long time usually includes a few peculiar misidentifications. So does Toxotes. A specimen described as Toxotes squamosus, by Hutton in 1875, was synonimised by Mead (1972) with Brama brama, a completely different type of fish (also known as Pomfrets).

It should be said, that even though Archerfish are excellent shooters, they are also very good jumpers. As shown on the photo, they are capable of picking insects from leaves above the water.

Reprints and cards from the images above, but also  the mugs pictured underneath (as well as T-shirts, cards and more merchandise) are available at my printshop. Mugs and merchandise are available with the text 'Spit on it!'; 'Spit it out!' and 'Spitting image'.

Chinese banner

"Chinese banner" diptych, 2 panels of 40x50cm (total length 1m.)

In 2011 a new species of Chaetodontidae, Heniochus diphreutes, was found by comparative analysis of the morphological characteristics in a taxonomic revision of the family Chaetodontidae in China. Have a look at the elongated dorsalfin and you will know why their popular name is Bannerfish. 
The species has been imported many times as H. acuminatus. Interesting for marine aquarists as H. diphreutes is considered 'reef safe' while H. acuminatus is known to nibble on corals. So, to avoid your collection of live corals being destroyed by your Bannerfish, the question is, how can the two species be distinguished? 

Heniochus diphreutes (left) and H. acuminatus (right)

Well, if you like details you may consider to do some counting. H. diphreutes usually has 12 spines in its dorsal fin and 2-3 rows of teeth on both jaws (versus 11 spines and 5-7 rows of teeth in H. acuminatus). As Bannerfish are active swimmers I reckon counting is not the easiest way. Luckily there are more distinguishable, external characters available. The ventral profile of the head is convex in H. diphreutes (versus almost straight); the anal fin more angular, and the black area on the posterior part of the anal fin usually extending anteriorly to the longest soft ray (versus more round, and usually not extending anteriorly to longest soft ray in H. acuminatus). Probably the easiest way to tell the two species apart is the length of the snout, which is considerably shorter than the eye in H. diphreutes. 

Want to know more about these fish? Here's the full description:

Zuo, Xia-Yan & Wen-Qiao (2011): "A new record species, Heniochus diphreutes, Chaetodontidae from China"- Zoological Research, Vol.32, No. 3: 349-352.

Have fun reading it...it's in Chinese.

Pyamas

Pterapogon kauderni is a popular fish in the marine aquariumhobby. Kauderni's are mouthbreeders, which makes the species 'easy' to breed. The photo shows the juveniles in the mouth of the father, shortly before they are released. Great photo which I admire because it takes much, much patience to make pictures like this. I have been sitting in front of my breeders tank, on my knees, for over an hour. Trying to film the spawning of a pair kauderni's, without any luck. That is, they were 'dancing' (mostly vibrating their bodies), but I couldn't film the actual moment when the male would take the eggs in his mouth.

Breeding and raising kauderni's is great fun. If you have any experience in breeding fish, kauderni's will not be any problem. I have raised several broods of these pyama fish. Although I often missed the moment the young fish were released by the father, a number of juveniles always end up in the filter system. Contrary to the anemone fish, or clownfish, there are no misbars or color forms of Pterapogon kauderni. As far as known, there also is only one color type in nature.
There is a lot of quarreling about the status of kaudernis. Threatened, endangered or...not? It seems they are far less endangered as mostly believed. A second population has been found. Introduced to the new area by fishermen. But very succesful. If you like to keep them in your marine aquarium, ask for captive bred specimens. They are easier to keep. Even easier to breed. Considering the succesful breeding records by many fish breeders, wild caught specimens are not necessary. Whether they are threatened or not.

Kaudernis are also known as Banggai Cardinals, or Pyama Cardinals. When I was doing the painting, pictured hereby, another idea came to my mind. I made a limited series of nine 'rockies'. Small stones,15x15cm, painted on both sides. Front side a Banggai Cardinal,back side a smaller copy of my seahorse series. 

Something completely different

Last weeks blog was about a Butterflyfish, member of the Chaetodontidae. Larvae of Chaetodon, like most marine fish, completely differ from the adult specimens. I'm presently working on larvae of the Cyprinodontidae, a family of freshwater fishes. Studying the available literature I found this article of Carole Baldwin. It includes magnificent pictures of marine fish larvae. Fish larvae are amazing, sometimes incredible and bizarre, creatures which differ so much from their ancestors, many of them have been described as new species in the past. 

Photo by Christopher Paparo (in Baldwin, 2013).
A tank reared specimen.

Knowledge of the larval stages, also known as Early Life History, is not only fascinating. It's also important to understand the relationships and variety of fish. Whereas most scientists use preserved specimens, I prefer to study live material. As fish larvae are rather small, most of them only a few mm long, it is rather difficult to make good pictures. I use combinations of photos to create line drawings. Some of the pictures in Baldwins article are truly amazing and outstanding. And surprising. Who would have guessed the photo in this blog is a larva of the fish in the painting I made? Liopropoma rubre, also known as the Peppermint Bass, is a territorial fish, found at greater depths in the Western Atlantic (from southern Florida and the Bahamas to northern South America). 

Take a look at the great pictures in: Carole C. Baldwin (2013): "The phylogenetic significance of colour patterns in marine teleost larvae" - Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 168, 496–563. With 52 figures

Buy the painting in my ETSY-shop.