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| Re: N. rachovii Lower Shire River MZMW 09-4 |
Subject: Re: N. rachovii Lower Shire River MZMW 09-4
by bwatters on 2009/8/30 18:52:22
Bruce,
The overall coloration of the Lower Shire N. rachovii is similar to the typical Lower Pungwe and Lower Zambezi "blue" forms but the color pattern on the unpaired fins, the anal and caudal in particular, is closer to that found on the "intermediate" color form (such as the Dondo population, in the Lower Pungwe area). I will prepare a photo of the latter and post it to these forums in a few days time so that you can see what I mean. Those fins have a spotted pattern rather than the coarse, broken banding of the blue form.
Specimens will, in due course, be subjected to mtDNA analysis and that will probably help us to determine its affiliation.
Another field investigation of the Pongola-Mkuze area, with a view to trying to find N. mkuziensis, is still on my list of things to do. However, at the moment I am not sure when that might be. I am not optimistic that N. mkuziensis will ever be found again, and it is quite possible that it no longer exists due to habitat disturbance (i.e. farming) as suggested many years ago by Jubb.
I have looked for it fairly thoroughly on a number of occasions and, over the years, the KwaZulu-Natal parks board people have conducted various ichthyological surveys but it has never turned up. By contrast, N. orthonotus has been found at many different places on the floodplains of both river systems. That does not necessarily mean that it is still not around but, as always when collecting Nothos, it is a matter of being at the right place at the right time.
Incidentally, I did not collect the Lower Shire population - it was collected by some friends of mine from South Africa. They had planned a trip to Malawi via Mozambique and visited the Lower Shire area on my advice, specifically to look for this fish which, on the evidence from a single preserved specimen (collected in the 70s) I felt sure must be a form of N. rachovii. You can imagine my delight when I learned that they had found it. Live wild specimens were brought to Canada for me by my good friend Otto Schmidt who was the banquet speaker at the Portland convention.
Brian
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