Difference between sp. dabola, koliba, koloton

[Caveden]

Seeing more sp. dabolas in the market and posts nowadays. Sp. dabola and endlicheri, aren’t they both the same? What the difference?
Same goes for polypterus bichir “lapardei”. I cannot tell the difference between sp. koliba and sp. koloton lapardeis. I can only tell the difference between Nigerian lapardei and kolibas due to the head shape, Nigerians have a larger, flatter head shape, and perhaps a skinner build?
Anyone can help me to identify better? Thanks! Picture below of my Guinean endli to capture more attention

giseok jung Hao Polypterus_36

 

[Hao]

Regarding the koloton and koliba. Those are basically the same thing now days. They used to have minor “differences” but over time African exporters started to mix and matching them. So now it doesn’t matter anymore just pretend they are the same thing to make things simple.

As for the sp. “Dabola”, I actually hate talking about this since it’s kind of controversial. But what I’m about to say it’s just my opinion and how I see it. I will provide examples of what I consider are sp. “Dabola” at the end.
Buckle your seatbelt, things are about to get confusing…

For starters, you might be confusing Endlicheri from “Dabola” and sp. “Dabola”. Those two are not the same. Sp. “Dabola” refers to an undescribed species from “Dabola” somewhat like sp. “Nigeria” (that’s another topic). As to what an sp. “Dabola” is, nobody can say for sure since there is not enough scientific studies done on them. For the longest time (even now), Japanese have been calling them Lapen (wild hybrid of lap and endli). So there are some people who believe sp. “Dabola” is a wild hybrid between Guinean Polypterus endlicheri and Guinean Polypterus bichir (lapradei). There are also others who think they are their own species. Anyway Sp. “Dabola” are actually quite rare, as you might or might not find one mixed in an import of Guinean Endlicheri/Lapradei. They almost never come in as a batch of “sp. Dabola”. Side note that pisses me off is the Nigerian exporters who recently (probably since 2020/2021) started exporting sp. “Nigeria” as sp. “Dabola”/ Dabola endlicheri which adds fuel to the confusion.

The term sp. “Dabola” was started by Toyin of Rehoboth Aquatics back in early 2008. Originally, he said that they have 14-15 finlets but over time I have found that they have similiar finlet count like Endlicheri (11-13 usually). Btw Finlet count is not reliable when it comes to IDing bichirs .
Originally people often said sp. Dabola has a Lapradei head with endli body/markings.
But personally I feel like they have their own headshape that closer resembles Endlicheri. Their body and markings also typically resemble more of Endlicheri. The main difference I’ve noticed that sets them apart from Endlicheri is their distinct facial markings/head markings which resembles more of a Lapradei. They also have colors more similiar to Lapradei. Personally I consider those with lapradei head and endlicheri markings more of an oddball/unique Guinean Polypterus bichir (Lapradei).
Basically to me, the very first few so called sp. Dabola back in 2008 were just Lapradei (I’m sure there were some true sp. “Dabola” mixed in the batch too).
Again, this is just how I usually identify them and what I consider sp. “Dabola”.
If in the future, they actually get genetic testing done on multiple sp. “Dabola”, as well as multiple lapradei with endlicheri stripes, and they turn out to be hybrids then I guess it’ll be more confusing. There’s a high chance of sp. Dabola being a wild hybrid based on the captive bred Lap x Endli I’ve seen but who knows. I’ve also seen CB lap x endli that resemble Ghana endlicheri too…
An interesting thing I want to note is Endlicheri from Ghana look very similiar to sp. “Dabola” since they generally have heavy facial marking/head markings as well. But in the future, Ghana endlicheri potentially could be their own species since giseok jung did some DNA testing on them and found that they are quite different in comparison to the Endlicheri population.

Hopefully I didn't make any writing errors haha. But yeah seeing the photos below should help clear it up a bit too.
anyway here are bunch of photos of what I consider true sp. “Dabola” (few of them were my old fish, most of them belong to other bichir keepers in Asia)
Keep in mind, there are also minor variation among sp. "Dabola" in terms of color and pattern.

 

[Caveden]

Regarding the koloton and koliba. Those are basically the same thing now days. They used to have minor “differences” but over time African exporters started to mix and matching them. So now it doesn’t matter anymore just pretend they are the same thing to make things simple.

As for the sp. “Dabola”, I actually hate talking about this since it’s kind of controversial. But what I’m about to say it’s just my opinion and how I see it. I will provide examples of what I consider are sp. “Dabola” at the end.
Buckle your seatbelt, things are about to get confusing…

For starters, you might be confusing Endlicheri from “Dabola” and sp. “Dabola”. Those two are not the same. Sp. “Dabola” refers to an undescribed species from “Dabola” somewhat like sp. “Nigeria” (that’s another topic). As to what an sp. “Dabola” is, nobody can say for sure since there is not enough scientific studies done on them. For the longest time (even now), Japanese have been calling them Lapen (wild hybrid of lap and endli). So there are some people who believe sp. “Dabola” is a wild hybrid between Guinean Polypterus endlicheri and Guinean Polypterus bichir (lapradei). There are also others who think they are their own species. Anyway Sp. “Dabola” are actually quite rare, as you might or might not find one mixed in an import of Guinean Endlicheri/Lapradei. They almost never come in as a batch of “sp. Dabola”. Side note that pisses me off is the Nigerian exporters who recently (probably since 2020/2021) started exporting sp. “Nigeria” as sp. “Dabola”/ Dabola endlicheri which adds fuel to the confusion.

The term sp. “Dabola” was started by Toyin of Rehoboth Aquatics back in early 2008. Originally, he said that they have 14-15 finlets but over time I have found that they have similiar finlet count like Endlicheri (11-13 usually). Btw Finlet count is not reliable when it comes to IDing bichirs .
Originally people often said sp. Dabola has a Lapradei head with endli body/markings.
But personally I feel like they have their own headshape that closer resembles Endlicheri. Their body and markings also typically resemble more of Endlicheri. The main difference I’ve noticed that sets them apart from Endlicheri is their distinct facial markings/head markings which resembles more of a Lapradei. They also have colors more similiar to Lapradei. Personally I consider those with lapradei head and endlicheri markings more of an oddball/unique Guinean Polypterus bichir (Lapradei).
Basically to me, the very first few so called sp. Dabola back in 2008 were just Lapradei (I’m sure there were some true sp. “Dabola” mixed in the batch too).
Again, this is just how I usually identify them and what I consider sp. “Dabola”.
If in the future, they actually get genetic testing done on multiple sp. “Dabola”, as well as multiple lapradei with endlicheri stripes, and they turn out to be hybrids then I guess it’ll be more confusing. There’s a high chance of sp. Dabola being a wild hybrid based on the captive bred Lap x Endli I’ve seen but who knows. I’ve also seen CB lap x endli that resemble Ghana endlicheri too…
An interesting thing I want to note is Endlicheri from Ghana look very similiar to sp. “Dabola” since they generally have heavy facial marking/head markings as well. But in the future, Ghana endlicheri potentially could be their own species since giseok jung did some DNA testing on them and found that they are quite different in comparison to the Endlicheri population.

Hopefully I didn't make any writing errors haha. But yeah seeing the photos below should help clear it up a bit too.
anyway here are bunch of photos of what I consider true sp. “Dabola” (few of them were my old fish, most of them belong to other bichir keepers in Asia)
Keep in mind, there are also minor variation among sp. "Dabola" in terms of color and pattern.
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Thanks a lot, this clears up a lot of doubts I had. So in reality sp. dabola is most likely a WC polypterus bichir “lapardei” x endlicheri (lapen), and dabola endli is just a Guinean endli found in the dabola region.
yeah, I can’t distinguish between koloton and koliba, I’ve always wondered how experts do it, I guess they can’t really too

 

[Hao]

Thanks a lot, this clears up a lot of doubts I had. So in reality sp. dabola is most likely a WC polypterus bichir “lapardei” x endlicheri (lapen), and dabola endli is just a Guinean endli found in the dabola region.
yeah, I can’t distinguish between koloton and koliba, I’ve always wondered how experts do it, I guess they can’t really too

Yeah the possibility is high but can't say for sure.
As for the koloton/koliba, there used to be "clear" rules to differentiate them but eventually Kolotons were imported as Koliba and vice versa so it got super confusing and most of us have just concluded they are the same variant despite them being from different rivers.

 

[Caveden]

Yeah the possibility is high but can't say for sure.
As for the koloton/koliba, there used to be "clear" rules to differentiate them but eventually Kolotons were imported as Koliba and vice versa so it got super confusing and most of us have just concluded they are the same variant despite them being from different rivers.

Hi, just another question that came to me, now that Lawrence passed up some sp. Nigeria and dabola to JZX.

I know that sp.dabola are most likely WC specimens of lap x endli, lapens.
what about sp. Nigeria? Are they also WC lap x endlis? But from a diff region, Nigeria instead of dabola? Or are they just polypterus bichir ‘lapradei’ ?

I think you saw, hilmi went to ask you if it was cnfm dabola
I wanted to buy the congi… then I noticed the under gill plate had bichir worms. Didn’t want to risk my tank getting infected so I didn’t buy.

 

[Hao]

Hi, just another question that came to me, now that Lawrence passed up some sp. Nigeria and dabola to JZX.

I know that sp.dabola are most likely WC specimens of lap x endli, lapens.
what about sp. Nigeria? Are they also WC lap x endlis? But from a diff region, Nigeria instead of dabola? Or are they just polypterus bichir ‘lapradei’ ?

I think you saw, hilmi went to ask you if it was cnfm dabola
I wanted to buy the congi… then I noticed the under gill plate had bichir worms. Didn’t want to risk my tank getting infected so I didn’t buy.

View attachment 1554255

Some Polypterus sp. "Nigeria" are probably natural hybrids. Some are probably new variant of Polypterus bichir "lapradei". Those sp. "Nigeria" always come in mixed (generally different looking from one another). Most of the ones I've seen look like variant of lapradei. Not true sp. like Sp. Dabola. Only some of them out there, I would consider true sp. "Nigeria". But yeah sp. "Nigeria" is a really broad term, which would include anything that doesn't look like a typical Nigerian endlicheri or typical Nigerian lapradei.

side notes:
Polypterus sp. "Dabola" describes a specific population of Polypterus within Guinea.
There are other sp. in Guinea (besides sp. "Dabola"), which we could call sp. "Guinea".
Koloton/Koliba used to be referred to as sp. as well since they did not look like typical Guinean Lapradei or Guinean Endlicheri but over time we accepted that they are probably a variant of Polypterus bichir.

 

[Hao]

Regarding the koloton and koliba. Those are basically the same thing now days. They used to have minor “differences” but over time African exporters started to mix and matching them. So now it doesn’t matter anymore just pretend they are the same thing to make things simple.

As for the sp. “Dabola”, I actually hate talking about this since it’s kind of controversial. But what I’m about to say it’s just my opinion and how I see it. I will provide examples of what I consider are sp. “Dabola” at the end.
Buckle your seatbelt, things are about to get confusing…

For starters, you might be confusing Endlicheri from “Dabola” and sp. “Dabola”. Those two are not the same. Sp. “Dabola” refers to an undescribed species from “Dabola” somewhat like sp. “Nigeria” (that’s another topic). As to what an sp. “Dabola” is, nobody can say for sure since there is not enough scientific studies done on them. For the longest time (even now), Japanese have been calling them Lapen (wild hybrid of lap and endli). So there are some people who believe sp. “Dabola” is a wild hybrid between Guinean Polypterus endlicheri and Guinean Polypterus bichir (lapradei). There are also others who think they are their own species. Anyway Sp. “Dabola” are actually quite rare, as you might or might not find one mixed in an import of Guinean Endlicheri/Lapradei. They almost never come in as a batch of “sp. Dabola”. Side note that pisses me off is the Nigerian exporters who recently (probably since 2020/2021) started exporting sp. “Nigeria” as sp. “Dabola”/ Dabola endlicheri which adds fuel to the confusion.

The term sp. “Dabola” was started by Toyin of Rehoboth Aquatics back in early 2008. Originally, he said that they have 14-15 finlets but over time I have found that they have similiar finlet count like Endlicheri (11-13 usually). Btw Finlet count is not reliable when it comes to IDing bichirs .
Originally people often said sp. Dabola has a Lapradei head with endli body/markings.
But personally I feel like they have their own headshape that closer resembles Endlicheri. Their body and markings also typically resemble more of Endlicheri. The main difference I’ve noticed that sets them apart from Endlicheri is their distinct facial markings/head markings which resembles more of a Lapradei. They also have colors more similiar to Lapradei. Personally I consider those with lapradei head and endlicheri markings more of an oddball/unique Guinean Polypterus bichir (Lapradei).
Basically to me, the very first few so called sp. Dabola back in 2008 were just Lapradei (I’m sure there were some true sp. “Dabola” mixed in the batch too).
Again, this is just how I usually identify them and what I consider sp. “Dabola”.
If in the future, they actually get genetic testing done on multiple sp. “Dabola”, as well as multiple lapradei with endlicheri stripes, and they turn out to be hybrids then I guess it’ll be more confusing. There’s a high chance of sp. Dabola being a wild hybrid based on the captive bred Lap x Endli I’ve seen but who knows. I’ve also seen CB lap x endli that resemble Ghana endlicheri too…
An interesting thing I want to note is Endlicheri from Ghana look very similiar to sp. “Dabola” since they generally have heavy facial marking/head markings as well. But in the future, Ghana endlicheri potentially could be their own species since giseok jung did some DNA testing on them and found that they are quite different in comparison to the Endlicheri population.

Hopefully I didn't make any writing errors haha. But yeah seeing the photos below should help clear it up a bit too.
anyway here are bunch of photos of what I consider true sp. “Dabola” (few of them were my old fish, most of them belong to other bichir keepers in Asia)
Keep in mind, there are also minor variation among sp. "Dabola" in terms of color and pattern.
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Just thought I’d add some more examples of perfect/beautiful adult specimens (55+ cm) of Polypterus sp. “Dabola” from hobbyist in China. Some of these were shared on my Instagram story so I just screenshot it.

 

[Caveden]

Just thought I’d add some more examples of perfect/beautiful adult specimens (55+ cm) of Polypterus sp. “Dabola” from hobbyist in China. Some of these were shared on my Instagram story so I just screenshot it.

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definitely have amazing markings. love their flat headshape as well.