Imitator or Travancoricus?

[TorPeteO]

Hi everyone,

As most pufferologists on this site know I'm sure, there are two species of freshwater puffer from India which are hardly discernible from one another. There is some information on this site: Dwarf Freshwater Puffers from India.

If you look at my avatar, you will see one of my puffers. Sorry I couldn't get a larger picture, but I'm not a good photographer at the best of times. I'm positive that individual (Browp) is a female, of which species I can't tell.

She's a brown colouration, similar to the Imitator female pictured at the above-mentioned website, but her belly is more of a yellowish-gold, like that of the female Travancoricus. I'm puzzled. Her spot pattern was, at first, large spots similar to Travancoricus, but recently more have shown up, and they've been smaller, similar to Imitator. Any help you could give me would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Peter

P.S. There are a few more photos of my puffer here.

 

[LadyMinion]

It's quite difficult to tell the difference between these two species, but I'm going to say yours are Travancoricus.

The reason I say this is that the Imitator does not tend to have such prominent "spots" as yours and is possible a little sleeker.

Unfortunately, the Aqualog guide doesn't detail the differences between the two but does provide several photographs which aided my conclusion.

It is possible I've got it wrong as no two puffers are alike, but I'm 99% certain yours are Travancoricus.

BTW, just to confuse you further there is another species - the Blue Dwarf puffer whose spots are er, blue.

 

[TorPeteO]

Haha, alright, thanks Lady M.

Is the blue dwarf puffer another species entirely, or is it just a colour variation of Travancoricus? I've heard it's just a variation, but I could be mistaken.

Thanks for the information!

 

[LadyMinion]

Haha, alright, thanks Lady M.

Is the blue dwarf puffer another species entirely, or is it just a colour variation of Travancoricus? I've heard it's just a variation, but I could be mistaken.

Thanks for the information!

I believe it's a variation. The Aqualog book only has photos of them and no literature. They do look identical except the spots are a deep turquoise.

Here's a pic:

 

[HiggityHank]

YAY! (not threadjacking... I swear)

Thank you Lady for revealing to me that there is also a blue dwarf... which explains why some of the DP's I got on Sunday have really shiny blue spots and some have run of the mill black spots... Now I'm happy!