>> also one or two undescribed rainbows (most likely) in Western Qld in the =
>> Warrego and Paroo Rivers that likely won't be described for a long time =
>
> Could you provide more info on these Peter, we could be interested =
> (ANGFA,Q that is) in doing some collecting at some time if it is =
> appropriate.
Just go anywhere you can find water in the Warrego and Paroo Rivers and
collect the rainbowfish. They are typcially pretty widespread and
common. The Warrego at Charlevile or Cunnamulla and Paroo at Eulo
typically have water in them and I have collected bows there when ever
I've tried. The fish are definately not M. fluviatilis. They are much
closer to a splendida type like tatei but I'm sceptical that they would
be. It may just be the parallel environmental conditions between this
river and the Lake Eyre rivers that make them similarish. I feel both
fish, ie each river may be different, they look different in colour
which in bows doesn't mean much, but I remember the colour patterning
being different too. Irrespective, it warrents looking at. If you are
really
investigative, there is what apppears to be a closed basin just north of
the Paroo river headwaters called Lake Dartmouth. I remember from the
topo maps that they show a waterhole in there that may contain fish. The
'bow in there would also be worth investigating if any occur there. I
was also not the first one to observe these bows as being different to
fluvies either. The 1983 (?) publication by Llewellyn on the
distributation of fishes in NSW published by the Aust Soc of Limnology
records the bows out there as splendidas. Just so happens that no one
else picked up on this fact because most people aren't interested in
little fishies in the Murray Darling Basin. The really interesting
question is what goes on down where these rivers flow into the Darling?
The Paroo I believe rarely if ever actually makes it to the Darling
junction as it has to fill a large series of lakes first. The Warrego on
the other hand appears to reach the Darling regularly (at least as
regularly as it gets a decent flood). The only record of M. fluviatilis
I have seen for the Darling River is at Wilcannia collected by Dr
Ivantsoff (although I can't locate the museum record I thought I had of
this so it may be my imagination). There are also some 1910 collections
by Stead from Brewarrina. I have collected at Bourke a couple of times
without seeing any bows. The fish from the Bulloo River appears to be
M.s. tatei but noone of authority has ever looked at the fish to the best
of my knowledge. The Maranoa River at St George has an attractive M.
fluviatilis in it too. A more slender form than most.
> Sometimes when the only difference is the side chain on the haemoglobin =
> molecule it gets a bit hard for us amateurs to get enthusiastic.
Sounds like an echo from a taxonomist complaining about aquarists who
think every different population with a slight colour variation is a
different species. :-) ie, Utchees, Burdikins, etc etc..... :-)
Actually, it takes a hell of a lot more than a different
haemoglobin molecule to cause molecular folks that things are different
species. Typically, I have found some molecular folks to be relatively
conservative types when it comes to claiming different species.
Tootles
Peter