Monodactylus Kottelati Sighting In London?

[nmonks]

I happened to be up at the Maidenhead Aquatics at Wembley this week. In one of their tanks were a bunch of monos. What was interesting about them was that the dorsal fins and anal fins were unequal in size, and the markings were definitely orange, not yellow. While I can't be 100% sure, I do think these were Monodactylus kottelati rather than Monodactylus argenteus. Monodactylus argenteus have yellow, not orange markings and the dorsal and anal fins are identical in size.

For those not in the loop, this is fourth species of mono recognised as distinct only recently. While less tolerant of freshwater than its relatives, it does have the distinct plus of being much smaller, no more than 8 cm long when mature. Exporters do not distinguish between Monodactylus kottelati and Monodactylus argenteus, hence Monodactylus kottelati is "unknown" in the hobby, despite being common in the wild (and probably commonly traded).

http/www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=59430

If anyone is in the neighbourhood, stop by, and take a look at these fishes, and see if you agree with my suspicion.

Cheers,

Neale

PS. Among the other brackish water stuff there were some very small glassfish and bumblebee gobies, some knight gobies, Awaous flavus gobies, Macrognathus ?siamensis spiny eels, figure-8 puffers, and some archers, possibly both jaculatrix and chatareus.

 

[AMS]

Quite an interesting find nmonks! I know very little about this species, but from my knowledge the markings are wider than the other mono species and are more orange in color like you stated.

 

[Dave Legacy]

The difference in lenght of the dorsal and anal fin, I'd say, is a dead give away... coloration is just additional confirmation. Excellent find!

 

[funkybodal]

That's awesome, great find indeed.