Nothobranchius malaissei Wildekamp, 1978

malaissei: (Latinised adjective) dedication name in honour of Professor F. Malaisse, University of Lubumbashi, Shaba.

First Description

Wildekamp, R. H. - 1978 - "Re-description of Nothobranchius brieni Poll 1938 and the description of three new Nothobranchius species from the province of Shaba, Zaire" - Rev. Zool. Afr., 92 (2): 341-354.

Terra Typica

Dembo (temporary swamp, depression filled with rainwater) Kondale, 1.5-km east of Kabiashia (10°16'S-28°08'E), on the foothills of the Kundelungu mountains, in the Luapula-Moero basin, south of lake Moero, Katanga Province (present Shaba), Congo (Zaire, Democratic Republic of Congo).

Collecting site of N.malaissei in Zaire/Congo

Meristic & Morphometric Data

Body height 2.9 to 3.8 times and head length 2.85 to 3.0 times in body length. Eye diameter 3.7 to 4.2 times and interorbital width 2.85 to 3.3 times in head length. Snout length 0.9 to 1.15 times in eye diameter, which itself goes 1.15 to 1.4 times in the interorbital width.

The caudal fin is 1.2 to 1.7 times as long as deep. The dorsal fin has between 15 and 18 rays. The anal fin between 15 and 18. There are between 28 and 30 scales along the mid-lateral line series and 2 to 3 scales on the tail peduncle. Around the body, there are 22 to 25 scales in front of the anal fin.

The morpho-type of N.malaissei resembles closely the general Nothobranchius body shape; it has a terminal large and slightly upward directed mouth opening with a slightly protruding lower jaw. The general line of the back is slightly curved at the height of the head-back transition. All teeth are conical in shape and slightly curved towards the back, placed in irregular rows. Teeth from the first external row are always the longest.

When laid down, both the dorsal and anal fins reach the caudal fin.

A table of comparison of morphometric data for the 4 Nothobranchius species found in south-eastern Katanga/Shaba province, and which where all formerly identified as N.brieni, was given by Wildekamp in 1978 (values expressed in % of standard length and scales/ray counts).

Characteristics/Species	N.brieni	N.malaissei	N.polli	N.symoensi
Body height	29.2	30.1	29.1	30.4
Head length	33.8	33.7	33.4	32.2
Height caudal peduncle	13.6	13.4	12.8	12.7
Length caudal peduncle	18.2	18.7	17.8	19.4
Eye diameter	9.2	8.4	9.0	8.4
Interorbital distance	12.4	11.0	10.4	9.8
Snout length	8.8	8.0	8.0	7.3
Distance snout-dorsal fin	59.3	57.7	57.4	63.2
Distance snout-anal fin	58.3	63.5	63.0	64.8
Distance snout-ventral fin	48.5	51.7	52.5	50.9
# rays dorsal fin	15.7	16.4	16.6	18.0
# rays anal fin	17.5	16.2	16.5	17.5
# scales mid-lateral line series	28.0	29.2	27.3	29.0
# scales around body	24.0	23.7	24.0	25.0

Source: Wildekamp, 1978.

Synonyms

N.brieni Poll 1976

Maybe the populations N. spec. "Mansa" Rosenstock 1989; N. spec. "Mansa ZAM 97/2"; N. spec. "Mansa ZAM 97/3" but their status is still unclear.

Holotype

Type specimens are preserved in the Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA) in Tervuren, Belgium.

Adult male (40-mm total length; 30-mm standard length) collected on April 9^th 1969 by Professor F. Malaisse in Kondale Dembo (swamp), 1.5-km east of Kabiashia (10°16'S-28°08'E), Luapula-Moero basin, south of Lake Moero, Katanga Province (present Shaba), Congo (Zaire, Democratic Republic of Congo).

Paratypes

12 adult specimens, 6 males and 6 females (26 to 47-mm total length; 22 to 39-mm standard length). 10 Paratypes collected together with the Holotype and 2 Paratypes collected on May 2^nd 1968 at the same location by the same collector.

Code

MAL

Size

The largest preserved male reached 40-mm total length.

Distribution & Biotope

The only known representatives of this species were collected in May 1968 and April 1969 by Professor F. Malaisse in the Kondale Dembo (swamp depression), along the foothill of the Kundelungu mountains in the Luapula-Moero basin, south of Lake Moero, Katanga Province (present Shaba), Congo (Zaire, Democratic Republic of Congo).

Description

Male: Males preserved in alcohol present an irregular pattern of small spots, along the sides forming at times vertical brown stripes over a greyish base colour (in life specimens this could possible be red-brown and green-bluish). The head is slightly brownish with over the operculum 4 dark brown and obliquely running stripes. The chin region is marked with a few spots of the same colour. The unpaired fins are all greyish and clearly marked with red-brown spots, more densely placed in the exterior portion of the fin. Certain males present a more regular pattern on the anal and caudal fins, with horizontal stripes on the anal and vertical on the caudal. These fins are also most probably light blue and red-brown in life specimens. The pectoral fins are slightly greyish.

Female: The females have a uniformly grey-brown body; certain specimen present a very light border around the body scales. All the fins are further quite colourless.

History

The best known Nothobranchius species described from this part of the African continent are N.polli Wildekamp, 1978 and N.brieni Poll, 1938 with whom N.malaissei shares some resemblance.

Poll described N.brieni on the basis of 24 specimens, which were collected by Prof. P. Brien in the vicinity of Bukama town, from a number of pools interconnecting with the Lualaba river system. The description provides a good picture of the morphological data of this species as well as a good impression on the specific colour pattern. G. F. de Witte collected also N.brieni in the Sanga River and near Mabwe. Both localities lie within the Upemba National park, next to Lake Upemba, which also belongs to the Lualaba river system and can be found some 90-km north of Bukama.

During studies aimed at discovering the real identity of N.brieni, on the basis of published literature, it appeared rather rapidly to Wildekamp (1978) that this name introduced quite some confusion. In fact it even appeared that the name was being used to identify several Nothobranchius species originating from Shaba as well as from the upper Zambezi River system. Even J. J. Scheel doubted in his book "Rivulins of the Old World" on it’s validity as a species and Bell-Cross even considered N.brieni as an under-species of N.taeniopygus and later even as one of it’s synonyms. Both, Bell-Cross and Scheel based their conclusions on the phenotypic appearance of N.brieni in Van Den Nieuwenhuizen‘s picture and the corresponding first identification by Poll.

After investigations carried out on preserved museum material, Wildekamp (1978) described the species as N.malaissei.

In December 1989, Rosenstock had the opportunity to re-visit Zambia and to search for Nothobranchius. He passed the Christmas days in Chibote, north of Lake Bangwuelu and on December 25^th, he travelled from Chibote to Lubwe , on the western side of Lake Bangwuelu. According to Rosenstock (1991), there were very many promising Nothobranchius biotopes along the road from Samfya to Mansa, but he could only collect Barbs, Cichlids and some Lampeyes. More time was spent in a very promising biotope, a few pools on both sides of the road, but here also he collected only Barbs and Lampeyes, until suddenly he discovered a female Nothobranchius in his net. With the help of some local boys, he succeeded to catch a few more specimens (4 males and 12 females), but many of them had been rather roughly treated and passed away the next day. These pools were located 36-km from Mansa and 40-km from Samfya, between kilometre poles 282 and 283.

As this locality was only 1-hour driving away from Lubwe, Rosenstock (1991) returned the next day and instructed the boys to exercise more care in catching the fish. As he had some few matters to handle in Mansa, he left the nets with the boys and when he came back, they had captured 15 half-grown males and 10 females. The boys did not collect this fish in the pools but rather in the "river", some 6 to 700-m away, though a bushy track. The Ringis rivulet was about 2 to 3-m wide, with a rather strong current.

According to Rosenstock (1991), the Nothobranchius from this last locality (identified as Nothobranchius spec. "Mansa") is smaller and less colourful than N.symoensi from Kapalala and resembles most the N.kafuensis nega Nega population. They have an orange caudal and anal fin and the anal fin presents on its base an irregular bluish pattern. But, as opposed to the N.kafuensis nega Nega population, which has black stripes on the fins, it has thin bluish stripes along the caudal and anal fins, but not as intense as in N.symoensi. Not one male of the Mansa population was larger than 42-mm, females did not exceed 35-mm.

The status of this Nothobranchius spec. "Mansa" population is still unclear but it is suspected that it could be closely related to N.malaissei. The status will remain unclear until N.malaissei specimens from the original collecting site can be re-collected in the wild, but with the present hazardous political situation prevailing in Dem. Rep. Congo/Zaire, it could take some time.

According to Rosenstock (1991), this N. spec. Mansa population is apparently very difficult to maintain in captivity on the rather hard Danish water (20 dH). From the 10 stored peatmoss parcels, after 6 months of incubation time, he and L. Knudsen could only obtain 5 fry, which in addition died within 10 days.

In 1997, two new populations of N. spec."Mansa" were introduced into the hobby: N. spec."Mansa ZAM 97/2" and N. spec."Mansa ZAM 97/3".

Maintenance & Breeding

Unknown thus far

Literature

• Bell Cross, G. (1965) "Additions and amendments to the checklist of the fishes of Zambia" - The Puku, Occ. Papers; Department of Game & Fisheries, Zambia, 3.
• Boulenger, G. A. (1907) "Zoology of Egypt, Fishes of the Nile"; London.
• Boulenger, G. A. (1914) "Catalogue of the freshwater fishes of Africa"; Vol. III, Trustees, London.
• Jackson, P. B. N. (1961) "The fishes of Northern Rhodesia", Government printer, Lusaka.
• Jubb, R. A. (1969) "The Nothobranchius of Southern Africa", Ann. Cape Prov. Mus., 8-1.
• Jubb, R. A. (1975) "The Jubb Papers", J.A.K.A. KN., VIII-6.
• Jubb, R. A. (1976) "Three interesting species of Nothobranchius", B.K.A. Killi News, 127.
• Magis, N. (1963) "Renseignements écologiques sur le Nothobranchius brieni Poll (Cyprinodontidae, Rivulini)" - Bull. Soc. Sci. Liège, 32 (1-2):174-184.
• Poll, M. (1938) "Poissons du Katanga récoltés par le Prof. Brien", Revue Zool. Bot. Afr., XXX-4.
• Poll, M. (1963) "Zoogéographie ichthyologique du cours supérieur du Lualaba" in Coloque sur les problèmes biogéographiques du parc National de L'Upemba; Publ. Univ. Elisabethville, 6.
• Poll, M. (1976) "Exploration du Parc National de l'Upemba, Poissons" Publ. Inst. Parcs Nat. Bruxelles, 1976.
• Rosenstock, J. (1991) "Zambia 1989" - KFN Killi Nieuws; 21(2):23-31, 12 figs.
• Rothe, S. (1993) Es geht schon wieder los: Nothobranchius symoensi Wildekamp, 1978 - DKG-Journal, 25(8):124-126,1993; 2 figs.
• Tait, C. C. (1975) "Notes on the species Nothobranchius (Cyprinodontidae)", The Puku, Occ. Papers; Dept. Game & Fisheries; Zambia, n° 3.
• van den Nieuwenhuizen, A. (1962) "Die natürliche Umwelt unserer Aquarienfische im Kongo (I)" - DATZ; 15(7); Juli 1962:202-204; 7 figs.
• van den Nieuwenhuizen, A. (1962) "Die natürliche Umwelt unserer Aquarienfische im Kongo (II)" - DATZ; 15(8); August 1962:225-228; 7 figs.
• van den Nieuwenhuizen, A. (1962) "Die natürliche Umwelt unserer Aquarienfische im Kongo (III)" - DATZ; 15(9); September 1962:262-264; 6 figs.
• Wildekamp, R. H. (1978) "Redescription of Nothobranchius brieni Poll, 1938 and the description of three new Nothobranchius species (Pisces, Cyprinodontidae) from the province of Shaba, Zaire" - Rev. Zool. Afr. 92(2):341-354.
• Wildekamp, R. H. & J. Rosenstock (1989) "Anmerkunge zu den Nothobranchius-Arten Sambias mit der Beschreibung von Nothobranchius kafuensis spec. nov. (Cyprinodontiformes, Nothobranchiinae)" - D.A.T.Z. 42(7):413-419.
• Wildekamp, R. H. (1978) "Nothobranchius species auf der Shaba Provinz - Zaire" - D. K. G. Journal, 10(8): 121-129, 11 figs.