Rosy Loach - a name found?

[The.Dark.One]

I think I may have found the identity of the Rosy Loach:

Yunnanilus discoloris Zhou & He, 1989

Described from Chenggong Co., 24°50'N, 102°45'E, Yunnan Prov., China.

Drawings of male and female in Zhou's Synopsis of Freshwater Fishes of China appear to match the Rosy Loach both in shape and pattern. Also, the name discoloris may pertain to one of the sexes being 'discoloured' as is the case in the Rosy Loach. Also, the title of the description of the species is:

A new species of dwarfism in Yunnanilus (Cypriniformes: Cobitidae)

and our Rosy Loach appears to be a dwarf!

Yunnan is not a million miles away from Myanmar!

[Graeme Robson]

Great work, Steve! Your definitely on to something there. The little image on the right certainly looks like the Rosy.

http://fishbase.sinica.edu.tw/summary/S ... p?id=60452

Interesting to see that the Yunnanilus discoloris and a Yunnanilus sp come from the Lake Dianchi.

[The.Dark.One]

Thanks Graeme

I think the Fishbase image is a Google one and as such is not verified by Fishbase moderators, but still may represent discoloris.

Has everyone interested got access to the drawings in Zhu's books?

Is Lake Dianchi near the location we've been given for the Rosy?

[Graeme Robson]

Here's a little PDF on Lake Dianchi >> http://www.ilec.or.jp/eg/lbmi/reports/1 ... ry2006.pdf

No Steve. No access here to Zhu's books.

[Graeme Robson]

Also have a look at this thread on here>> http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=4450

[The.Dark.One]

No Steve. No access here to Zhu's books.

Here is a poor image. Top fish is male, bottom female.

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[Emma Turner]

Very interesting, Steve! Does Zhu's book give any fin ray counts etc for this species?

Many thanks,

Emma

[chris1932]

Its good to know that I have a few of both.

[Graeme Robson]

Cheers Steve. This is good stuff!

Also, does Zhu's book have the fish sizes at all?

[The.Dark.One]

Thanks. The silly thing is, is that had I bothered to look in the book at Yunnanilus months ago when this all started, we would have known this then!

He doesnt appear to give specifics about discoloris, but there is a key to the genus showing you how to differentiate the species, which no doubt would give us some kind of hard info to try and identify them. Unfortunately it is in Chinese!!!

The description of the species was in English but I dont have it.

Obviously I cant say for definite but based on all the evidence we have I would say they are discoloris.

[mikev]

Unfortunately it is in Chinese!!!

If you could scan and post it, this problem can be solved.

[Graeme Robson]

I think we should update the species index with this.

Steve, can we use your image for a Yunnanilus discoloris update on the main page?

[The.Dark.One]

I dont have a scanner, and my camera will not take an accurate enough image of the chinese text so that someone could read and interpret it. The book is small, and the quality of the paper is not very good.

Yes, by all means use the image. You might want to erase the text at the top which refers to the species above them (not showing in the picture).

[Graeme Robson]

Cheers!

[chris1932]

Discoloris it is then. Now all I have to do is get these little guys and gals to lay some eggs. I can try and get a photo of a male and female together to show the dismorphism