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Megalodoras Irwini Catfish

neoprodigy

Administrator
Staff member
526996_3630431288329_1500511276_3171844_1172377038_n.jpg
 

Greg31

Members
Just another fish you have that I want. What tank is he in?

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Andrewtfw

Global Moderators
I agree about it being boring. Mine is about 10" and lives in the wood. He only moves to come out for food and that's only if the lights are off.

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Shane

Members
This is Megalodoras uranoscopus. M. irwini was made a junior synonym in 2003.

See Sabaj, M.H. and C.J. Ferraris, Jr. 2003 Doradidae (Thorny catfishes). p. 456-469. In R.E. Reis, S.O. Kullander and C.J. Ferraris, Jr. (eds.) Checklist of the Freshwater Fishes of South and Central America. Porto Alegre: EDIPUCRS, Brasil.

-Shane
 

UNCLERUCKUS

"THE ALL POWERFUL Q !!
I agree about it being boring. Mine is about 10" and lives in the wood. He only moves to come out for food and that's only if the lights are off.

Sent from my DROIDX
My oxydora catfish is like that as well. he will swim about at feeding time light or no light. other then that he burrows under the wood and sits staring.
 

Andrewtfw

Global Moderators
This is Megalodoras uranoscopus. M. irwini was made a junior synonym in 2003.

See Sabaj, M.H. and C.J. Ferraris, Jr. 2003 Doradidae (Thorny catfishes). p. 456-469. In R.E. Reis, S.O. Kullander and C.J. Ferraris, Jr. (eds.) Checklist of the Freshwater Fishes of South and Central America. Porto Alegre: EDIPUCRS, Brasil.

-Shane

Thanks for the info. Can you explain what "junior synonym" means? I know what the two words mean in isolation, but I am not sure what they mean when together.
 

Shane

Members
A scientific name most commonly becomes a junior synonym when it is realized that one scientist has described a fish species that another scientist has already described. With a very few (and obscure) exceptions, the oldest name for a species has priority.

So, for example, you describe Whatever whatever Andrew, 2002 and I describe Whatever somename Shane, 2008. In 2010 Li reviews all fish of the genus Whatever and concludes that the two species you and I described are in fact one and the same.

Since you described the species first in 2002 Whatever whatever Andrew, 2002 remains its valid scientific name and Whatever somename Shane, 2008 becomes a junior synonym of Whatever whatever. Make sense?

Now in 2012 Josh conducts a review of the family Whatidae, to which Whatever whatever belongs, and decides that Whatever is not a valid genus and all fishes in it should be moved to Somethingelse. Now the fish you described becomes Somethingelse whatever (Andrew, 2002). The parentheses around (Andrew, 2002) tell us that someone has moved this fish to a different genus since you described it in 2002.

Now your fish has two synonyms
Whatever whatever Andrew, 2002
Whatever somename Shane, 2008
Somethingelse whatever (Andrew, 2002)

In reality it is often more complicated as, for example, Megalodoras uranoscopus (Eigenmann and Eigenmann, 1888) has at times belonged to the genera Doras, Hoplodoras, Oxydoras and Pseudodoras.

-Shane
 
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Tony

Alligator Snapping Turtle/Past Pres
A scientific name becomes a junior synonym when it is realized that someone has described a fish species that someone else already described. With a very few (and obscure) exceptions, the oldest name for a species has priority.

So, for example, you describe Whatever whatever, Andrew 2002 and I describe Whatever somename, Shane 2008. In 2010 Li reviews all fish of the genus Whatever and concludes that the two species you and I described are in fact one and the same.

Since you described the species first in 2002 Whatever whatever, Andrew 2002 remains its valid scientific name and Whatever somename, Shane 2008 becomes a junior synonym of Whatever whatever. Make sense?


-Shane

Great explanation. Thanks Shane. :)
 

Andrewtfw

Global Moderators
Thanks for taking the time to explain this. I bet I am not the only one who was further educated by your thorough response.

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dogofwar

CCA Members
In the cichlid hobby, the Paratheraps melanurus controversy is the most recent example of this.

To quote Cichlid Room Companion:

For many years the most popular scientific name for this fish was that of its junior synonym P. synspilus, although the differences between species were not always clear. DNA analysis showed them as sister species with a low number of differences. McMahan et al (2011) have made a morphological comparison between the two species and finally determined the synonymy of them. Being P. melanurus the older name available, this name prevails, although being less popular than that now in junior synonymy.

Reference for fellow geeks:
McMahan, Caleb D.. 2011. "Paraneetroplus synspilus is a junior synonym of Paraneetroplus melanurus (Teleostei: Cichlidae)". Zootaxa. (n. 2833), pp. 1-14 (crc03297) (abstract).
 

BenM3

Members
I have two smaller ones now. Not really my cup of tea. They were bonus fish on a peru order. Anyone interested?
 
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