2 different Boraras brigittae?

**Nicky** · 28th Sep 2003, 14:17

Hi, it seemed from the Baensch Aquarium Atlas 1 and 3 that there are 2 different types of Boraras brigittae. One of them has a common name of mosquito rasbora. Can anyone confirm this?

Are there actually more than 2 kinds of Boraras brigittae?
Any picture to show?

Thanks.

**budak** · 28th Sep 2003, 14:36

I won't be surprised if they were several forms. If you observe the biodiversity of Southeast ASian blackwater fauna, the local variations existing within a species or a complex (e.g. the liquorice gouramis, bettas and &quot;tiger&quot; barbs) is immense (which is why every habitat lost represents the extinguishing of a unique group). Even for more common species, you have different forms of the three-spot or blue gourami in the region. Even the so-called Giant gourami is now split into 4 different &quot;species.&quot;

The boraras group (brigittae, merah, micros, uropthalmoides, maculata etc) are really interesting little creatures, and I suspect that many are really intermediates. Baensch Vol 6 (available only in German) shows an undescribed Boraras species from Thailand (Boraras sp. &quot;Thailand&quot

which appears to combine traits of micros and maculata. Go figure.

**hwchoy** · 28th Sep 2003, 17:24

don't go by the common name, use the scientific name. by definition there are only one &quot;type&quot; for any species, but as budak says there are localitiy variations. the definition of a &quot;species&quot; is that members of the species MUST be able to interbreed and produce viable offsprings, and which must breed true.

There are many undiscovered and un-named species, that's why they are suffixed with &quot;sp.&quot; in lieu of a species name (aka the &quot;epithet&quot

.

So to answer your question, there can only be ONE Boraras brigittae but there may be a number of slightly different variations, all of which should interbreed.

You can check out my photoarchive (link below) if you want to see some Boraras pics.

**Betta Almighty** · 30th Sep 2003, 11:59

i heard tat bobaras merah r seasonal...is it true?
cant remeber whether is it merah or bobaras brigittae.

**hwchoy** · 30th Sep 2003, 12:57

seasonal in terms of managing to catch them and sending them to the wholesaler I think.

**leloinjunior** · 1st Nov 2011, 11:16

To re-address Nicky's question & also to reply to hwchoy's comment about scientific names only. The second English Edition 2001/2002 of the Aquarium Atlas Photo Index 1-5 has the scientific name listed twice:

P#195 Boraras brigittae (no common name). H: Asia, Indonesia, & Sumatra
P#230 Borara brigittae common name of Mosquito rasbora. H: Asia & S. Borneo

Could this have been a printing error? Does anyone have a newer revised edition???