Is This A Full List Of Bichirs?

[The-Wolf]

Polypterus Ansorgii
Polypterus (bichir) Bichir
Polypterus (bichir) Katangae
Polypterus (bichir) Lapradei
Polypterus Endlicheri Congicus
Polypterus Endlicheri Endlicheri
Polypterus Mokelembembe (see retropinnis)
Polypterus Ornatipinnis
Polypterus Delhezi
Polypterus Palmas Palmas
Polypterus Palmas Buettikoferi
Polypterus Palmas Polli
Polypterus Retropinnis (the fish fromerly known as retropinnis is now mokelembembe)
Polypterus Sp. 'Zaire green' is now retropinnis (not the same as above)
Polypterus Senegalus Meridionalis
Polypterus Senegalus Senegalus
Polypterus Teugelsi aka Polypterus Sp. 'Kameroon' or 'Cameroon'
Polypterus Weeksii
Polypterus Sp. 'goldust',
Polypterus Sp. 'Kolbia'
polypterus Sp. 'liberia'
polypterus Sp.aff. congicus
polypterus Sp.aff. endlicherii
polypterus Sp.cf. palmas

have I missed any?
also does anyone have any or even seen any in shops....
Ansorgii , Katangae, Mokelembembe, Retropinnis, Meridionalis or any of the unamed species?

 

[Maximus]

Hey carn't help you there but I'd
post this same topic over at Aquatic Preditors,
In the bichir forum

 

[DiscusAngel]

Thats good wolf. do any stay small and small enough for a 15g?

 

[Fruitbat]

Actually....here's a full list of the currently recognized species and subspecies of the genus Polypterus:

Polypterus ansorgii
Polypterus bichir bichir
Polypterus bichir lapradei
Polypterus delhezi
Polypterus endlicheri endlicheri
Polypterus endlicheri congicus
Polypterus mokelembembe
Polypterus ornatipinnis
Polypterus palmas buettikoferi
Polypyterus palmas palmas
Polypterus palmas polli
Polypterus retropinnis
Polypterus senegalus
Polypterus teugelsi
Polypterus weeksii

Polypterus sp. 'Zaire Green' also known as sp. 'Congo' is now Polypterus retropinnis

Other species/subspecies which are still problemmatical include:

Polypterus bichir katangae
Polypterus retropinnis lowei
Polypterus senegalus meridionalis

Most authors synonomize the above three with other species/subspecies, though FishBase still has entries for them.

Currently, the following are considered color or locality variations of already-named species (though further scientific study is in progress and may result in some new species being named):

Polypterus sp. 'Gold Dust' (likely a color form of Polypterus palmas buettikoferi)
Polypterus sp. 'Koliba' (likely a color variant of Polypterus bichir lapradei
Polypterus sp. 'Liberia'
Polypterus sp. aff. congicus is being worked on by a couple of researchers
Polypterus sp. aff. endlcheri is also being worked on
Polypterus sp. aff. palmas is one that I haven't heard of

Of course...there's also the Rope (or Reed) Fish, Erpetoichthys calabaricus, which is also a Polypterid but not a member of the genus Polypterus.

Unfortunately, none of the Polypterids could be housed in a 15 gallon aquarium for life, though I do use 10 gallon standard and 20 gallon long aquariuims as grow-out tanks for my smaller (less than 8 inch) bichirs. Even the smaller species would need something in the neighborhood of a 30 gallon 'breeder' tank to be comfortable as adults.

I personally have most of the currently recognized species except Polypterus ansorgii (though I recently saw one for sale), Polypterus bichir bichir, Polypterus teugelsi, Polypterus sp. 'Gold Dust'. I also have the 'Koliba' variant of Polypterus bichir lapradei.

Hope this helps,

-Joe

 

[The-Wolf]

your current recognised list is a lot smaller than mine.
can you tell me where you got it from and just who are the people that 'recognise' them?

I'm asking because the list i posted is from a large forum for predators
and they all seem to aggree it is the full and conscise list.

I'm looking for the truth, but I guess on the subject to taxons, truth is relevent
and made to fit the facts in evidence

 

[Fruitbat]

The-Wolf:

It would appear that the list you posted is based on the Aqualog Polypterus book by Frank Schafer. While this is an excellent book for the serious bichir hobbyist, there are a number of taxonomic 'liberties' that Herr Schafer took that are not universally agreed on by other authorities. One thing that Mr. Schafer does is elevate a number of subspecies to species level (Polypterus bichir lapradei becomes Polypterus lapradei, for example). While this doesn't change the number of types, it does lead to some confusion because he is not following currently accepted nomenclature and has not provided any real reasoning as to why he took this approach.

The disparity in the two lists is primarily because of fish that you have listed as 'sp.' or 'sp. aff.' that most people are reserving judgement on until more exhaustive work has been done. In my last post I pointed to Polypterus sp. 'Koliba' as an example - this fish likely being a color variant of Polypterus bichir lapradei rather than a separate species or subspecies. The same thing applies to Polypterus sp. 'Gold Dust' (likely being a color variant of Polypterus palmas buettikoferi).

In addition, I also mentioned that at least three of the 'subspecies' that you listed (P. bichir katangae, P. senegalus meridionalis and P. retropinnis lowei) are considered by most authorities as being synonyms for other species and are not currently recognized as being valid because they are not really distinguishable from other, already named bichirs.

My resources for my list come from my own personal experience with the Polypteridae as well as a rather considerable library of articles written in recognized scientific journals.

What I am not saying here is that there isn't a possibility that some of the currently problemmatic bichirs (like Polypterus sp. aff. congicus in particular) won't end up eventually being considered valid species or subspecies. Frank Schafer informed me that he is currently working on that one specifically. The most recent literature, however, does not support them being considered as separate from the already-named fish.

-Joe

 

[The-Wolf]

thanks Joe