that's neat that the racing stripes are a trait distinct to the Congo. Are they on all the congo polys like laps and other endlis? or just the Congis and the PBB? You guys are making me want a WC later on.
Lower Jaw variants w/pics
- Thread starter jaws7777
- Start date
Bump for lap pics. Nigerian, koloton, koliba ,guinea those are the ones i need the most help with lol
Im gonna screw this up big time so i'll just quote hao who quoted king-el
Here is what King-eL wrote on a few facebook polypterus group recently:
It's confirmed that Polypterus senegalus meridionalis do exist. However the only Polypterid that still up in the air if they do exist or not. Perhaps just a synonym of Polypterus congicus as Frank Schafer as pointed out, is Polypterus bichir katangae. The closest we can get as of right now is the particular Congicus from Lualaba river as that was when Poll discovered a Polypterid and named it Polypterus bichir katangae. However Frank Schafer book stated it's just a synonym of... Polypterus congicus. Now both Congicus from Lualaba river in Democratic Republic of Congo and Congicus in Lake Tanganyika in Zambia around Kalambo area (Southern part of the lake) known as Polypterus sp. aff. "Congicus" aka Giselas bichir have similar characteristics that makes them different from the actual Polypterus congicus that are commonly seen. While many Polypterus congicus have twin stripes on the forehead similar to that of Polypterus bichir bichir and Polypterus bichir lapradei. Polypterus sp. aff. "Congicus" have circular or coronet patterns instead of twin stripes. This patterns can also be seen on some variants of Polypterus endlicheri especially from the Niger River in Nigerian areas. The problem now is, if you take a good closer look of the Natural Museum specimen first pic and second pics, they look just like Polypterus bichir complex as the faint patterns shown looks similar to Polypterus bichir lapradei. The rest of the pics just shows juveniles and kinda hard to tell. Now Japan have some particular Polypterid found in White Nile River in Uganda around Onigo area. It's the very first recorded of existence of Polypterus bichir lapradei in the East of Africa. Now Uganda is just border line close to Democratic Republic of Congo. Could Poll found this particular Polypterid on that time that looks simolar to Polypterus sp. "Onigo" and named it Polypterus bichir katangae back then? This now just confuses me even more. Is which really is the actual Polypterus bichir katagae, the Polypterus sp. aff. "Congicus or Polypterus sp. "Onigo" which is just a Polypterus bichir lapradei.
Polypterus sp. aff. "Congicus
Top - This 'Faranah Dabola' was purchased as unknown specie from Faranah Region. It prefers to stay unusually white under semi bright lighting. Will show markings in a sub due environment. It's unsure if it's more of an endli or lapradei, it's own specie, or may be a result of natural hybridization.
Bottom - Congicous is a scientifically described specie. They'll possess vertical like stripes and endli like headshape. Most congicus will look similar to each other.
Most CB have these characteristics:
Froggy eyes
Short head
Bigger body built but look shorter
Bolder pattern and seem like more wider pattern.
Shorter finlets
Sometimes deformation of the jaws and spine.
Hope that answer some of it.
I should've come back to this thread sooner the sheer amount of info. and how fast it accumulated is both impressive and daunting. lol I really have to commend you guys the dedication you show to both retain and to try to pass on such knowledge shows that you are all very dedicated hobbyists. I'll do my best to keep up. Again I may ask some questions to make sure I got things right. If someone could confirm that I've got it right I'd greatly appreciate it. So I'll try to address each post I might have questions on which the quote maybe edited in an attempt to save space.
I have to say it's all still kind of confusing to me, perhaps I'm more uninitiated then most?? I don't know but I think from a NOOB/Newb stand point it would be easier to follow if it was a little more organized IMO. For instance I think it'd be easier to follow if it was presented like this.
First the species would be listed as well as defining characteristics that make it recognizable from other Polys species in general. Pattern, head shape, lateral scale count, finlet count, etc, etc. Followed by a pic of said species showing said characteristics.
Next a list of regions it's found in.
Then a description of any regional variant there are of said variant/ species and why it's given the name such as location possible map inclusion for clarification and including a description of the defining characteristics and a pic of said regional variant.
Going to see what's in the stickies and see if I can organize it and combine the new info. you guys have into a new sticky. Hopefully if we work together we'll be able to create the most comprehensive collection of info. on Polys on the net or anywhere with everyone getting there fair share of credit.
Thank you very much for the warm welcome!Glad to have you aboard the poly wagon!
So based on my own observation one defining characteristic of Congi is the white or lack of pattern about mid way down on the body? Is this correct or are there other species that share the same characteristic? Also from what you're saying jaws Congi from the Congo have racing stripes on top of their head unlike those from Lake Tanganyika.
I too was wondering of this was a distinguishing characteristic of Poly species found in the Congo in general?
This one took awhile to digest but I think I got it. Thanks jaws! And of course thanks to both Hao and King-eL for passing on the info.!
Fairly straight forward explanation so again I'm pretty sure I got it. Thanks for the description Vancouver.
Thanks Poly IMO it's of great importance to be able to tell the difference between WC and CB so knowing these distinguishing characteristics of CB is greatly appreciated!
I have to say it's all still kind of confusing to me, perhaps I'm more uninitiated then most?? I don't know but I think from a NOOB/Newb stand point it would be easier to follow if it was a little more organized IMO. For instance I think it'd be easier to follow if it was presented like this.
First the species would be listed as well as defining characteristics that make it recognizable from other Polys species in general. Pattern, head shape, lateral scale count, finlet count, etc, etc. Followed by a pic of said species showing said characteristics.
Next a list of regions it's found in.
Then a description of any regional variant there are of said variant/ species and why it's given the name such as location possible map inclusion for clarification and including a description of the defining characteristics and a pic of said regional variant.
Going to see what's in the stickies and see if I can organize it and combine the new info. you guys have into a new sticky. Hopefully if we work together we'll be able to create the most comprehensive collection of info. on Polys on the net or anywhere with everyone getting there fair share of credit.
koltsixx
I dont think im experienced enough to say any one characteristic would define any one variant with in the same species like the congi of the congo vs congi of lake tanganyika but from what WAY more experienced members like hao and king-el have stated my interpretation would be yes racing stripes indicate the congo amd coronet would be from lake tanganyika.
The most frustrating but also intriguing part of these fish is there really isnt much scientific data to rely on. The aqualog book is the only one im aware of that is dedicated to polys and its filled with data from over 60+ yrs ago and theres too many "needs more study" or "yet to be determined" comments in it. Some of hao's,infblue, dr.b, and king-el's older posts contain more useful info than that entire book. So most of us rely on the name the fish was sold under (nigerian endli for example) and descriptions from other hobbyists. I still cant tell the differenced between most of the variants but am fortunate that other members can point out the finer details, i remember when i 1st really got into lower jaw species endlessly searching google and older threads for as many pics as i could find of particular species i was thinking of purchasing only to be confused because all of them shared similarities, endli no matter what the catch location are still endli and to me looked exactly the same at the time (some still do hhaha)
The Recent polypterid species and Polypterus faraou sp. nov. (A) Position of the species in the anatomically based clusters of species, as defined by Poll, P. teugelsi not included (see Britz, 2004, for discussion), and (B) distribution in the African hydrographical basins; data from FishBase (Froese & Pauly, 2005) and map of the ichthyofaunic regions of Africa from Roberts (1975).
Note: Polypterus Farou - Extinct Polypteridae. It is the only verifiable fossil record for the genus Polypterus. P. faraou closely resembles P. bichir and P. endlicheri.
Also, this map is data collected from scientific expeditions pre 2005. If there was a updated map for 2017. I'm sure it would look like a bunch of machine gun holes resulting from the ornamental fish trade (sarcasm)
Last edited:
Thank you! Had no idea that Congis typically have vertical stripes. I like the unknown Faranah Dabola.
Mystery fish!Thank you! It does help!
This is so cool! I was wondering where each species was typically collected. Do you think a thesis on IDing bichirs could be a good topic to potentially get me into graduate school? Although, I'm not sure if I want to die from machine guns or diseases.View attachment 1229947
The Recent polypterid species and Polypterus faraou sp. nov. (A) Position of the species in the anatomically based clusters of species, as defined by Poll, P. teugelsi not included (see Britz, 2004, for discussion), and (B) distribution in the African hydrographical basins; data from FishBase (Froese & Pauly, 2005) and map of the ichthyofaunic regions of Africa from Roberts (1975).
Note: Polypterus Farou - Extinct Polypteridae. It is the only verifiable fossil record for the genus Polypterus. P. faraou closely resembles P. bichir and P. endlicheri.
Also, this map is data collected from scientific expeditions pre 2005. If there was a updated map for 2017. I'm sure it would look like a bunch of machine gun holes resulting from the ornamental fish trade (sarcasm)
