Red Dovi from TUIC gill plate mutation vs injury

[Wildcat157]

Hello,

Would an administrator or someone who has knowledge please give me their opinion on my red dovi purchased from Kevin at TUIC a few months ago.

He was only 1.5" when I received him and noticed from the VERY FIRST DAY his right Gill plate region was slightly flared out almost like when they are showing aggression. But it was always just the right side and I didn't give it much thought as he was still very small.

Now that he's gotten bigger in size it appears the lower half of his right Gill plate is missing and you can see his gills??

Again, he had this abnormal look from day one it's just more noticeable now.

I don't think it was from an injury as he was small juvenile when I received him and usually injuries heal I would assume?

He's completely healthy and doing great!

Has anyone seen this before???

Any ideas??

I'll try to attach one or two short video clips demonstrating what I am referring to.

Appreciate an expert's opinion if they're pretty sure what's going on here.

Thank you.

 

[Wildcat157]

Replying to my own thread as I don't think the video attachments went through.

Video attachments from my phone are not working for me for some reason like they used to.

I will attempt to attach a few still pictures.

Again, thanks for anyone who has knowledge of what is going on here?

 

[wednesday13]

Def. Looks to be deformed… nothin u can do about it. It may pass the trait on, it may not. Ive owned plenty catfish missing gill plate’s entirely that got on just fine and lived for many years.

 

[Wildcat157]

Were your catfish born with it? Or was it the result of a injury from fighting?

Thank you for your opinions.

 

[wednesday13]

Were your catfish born with it? Or was it the result of a injury from fighting?

Thank you for your opinions.

Born with them..i used to collect deformed catfish. All kinds of crazy skull mis formations and degrees of gill plate issues. Id say ur guy was born with his issues. The jaw itself is pretty crooked as well. I could be wrong . Either way if it made it this far from 1.5” i dont think its going to affect it much down the road .

 

[Wildcat157]

Okay thanks I appreciate your input. He does have a bit of a crooked smile!