DAVID MARSHALL: THE AQUARIUM AT THE WORLD MUSEUM, LIVERPOOL

In the 1850s Mr William Brown, a wealthy Liverpool merchant banker, provided the land and finance, in exchange for having the road on which the building would stand named after himself, to enable the building of a beautiful neo-classic building that would house Liverpool’s largest collection of antiquities and wonders of the natural world. With the exception of the re-building that followed the ravages of World War II, the building and its contents remained much the same until dramatic improvements at the start of this century, which closed the building for a number of months, doubled the amount of display space and created a beautiful new atrium that was first opened to the public in 2005. It was at this point that the title World Museum was used for the first time.
The impressive neo-classical building that houses the World Museum

In March 2010 Sue and I paid our first visit to this wonderful place, one of the best ‘free days out’ in the U.K., since the building was re-opened. The galleries, spread over several floors, are truly amazing and house, amongst many other things, the biggest collection of ancient Egyptian artefacts outside of Cairo, a U.K. Commonwealth collection that is stunning, natural history presentations that include ‘living bugs’ and plants, beautifully crafted biotopes from the age of taxidermy, fossils and a planetarium. All of the floors are easily accessed by either lift or stairs and have their own educational and toilet facilities.

However, for the purpose of this article, we will concentrate on the public aquarium display situated on the first floor and dedicated to native and tropical marine life. To show the various aquarium displays, which vary greatly in size and shape, to their full advantage, much of the display area, but not the aquariums themselves, is dimly lit and gives you the impression that you are in a cavern (perhaps this is a reminder that the smaller aquarium, which then housed tropical freshwater fish and goldfish as well, we had first visited here was housed in the basement). Everywhere there are excellent information boards and loose-leaf books that contain information about the various themes and creatures on display.

The impressive aquarium is a mixture of living and information displays.

As you enter the aquarium you find yourself standing next to a large cubed aquarium that is home to ‘tropical predators’ and here you can view lyretail grouper and various lionfish. Moving on brings you to a wall in which three large and one small aquaria are home to tropical marine fish from the Indo-Pacific region. The displays, the quality and variety of fish (from young Clownfish through to large Bannerfish) on show and the clarity of the water etc. can only be described as ‘stunning.’

One of the amazing Indo-Pacific displays.

Next come eleven displays classed as ‘local rocky shores.’ Here you can see the wonders of local marine life. Magnifying equipment allows you to look at creatures as varied as sea bullheads, stone king crabs and common starfish in great detail.

On now to a larger display in which kelp is used as a background, in order to show just how glorious the colours of our native Wrasse are.

If I had to choose a highlight of the displays then for me it would be the large brackish display that had me speechless: a beautifully themed aquarium that is home to variously coloured Scats, Fingerfish and Archerfish, all of which are a living picture of health. The loving way in which all of the fish here are cared for is obvious. Thankfully, you can sit on a well-placed couch and just watch the activity and inter-actions that go on in the aquarium.

The displays conclude with four large aquaria dedicated to life found around Anglesey. Of course no such aquaria would be complete without a display of Thornback Rays, while the Abyss houses some amazing Lumpfish.

Rays are popular native marine fish

Much thought and planning has gone into the aquarium at the World Museum. As you will already have guessed I was impressed by the displays and thoroughly enjoyed the time spent here.

What you require for a visit to the World Museum is a great deal of time. You can see everything in one day (as we did) but to see everything in detail you would, in all honesty, need a week.

Aquarium Gazette Website

The official TAG website was launched today at http://www.theaquariumgazette.co.uk/ The website gives full details of what TAG is all about, review of the current issue, article listings for previous issues and ordering information etc.

Although a bold statement: I believe that TAG is the only aquarium magazine that encourages the interest in aquatic cryptozoology. With this in mind we have already published a number of excellent articles by Jon, Richard (subject of the Naga) and Dr Shuker (Buru) and keep our readers informed of all the latest CFZ news through our 'Community Zone' feature.

Regards

David Marshall, (Editor)

FROM THE ARCHIVES: What's been did and what's been hid

What's been did and what been hid

by Jonathan Downes

I have been a fish keeper for nearly four decades now, and with the onset of middle age I find myself rapidly entering old git territory. One of the enviable traits of the middle-aged is that they can bore on about how things were much better in their youth. I remember, when I was about 12 or 13, my father spending an entire lunch telling me and my younger brother that the Led Zeppelin album that I had just received was atrocious, decadent, and not to be mentioned in the same breath as the Glenn Miller records of his youth. Don't worry, guys; I am not going to spend this entire article droning on about how much better fish keeping was in the 1960s. Mainly because it wasn't. Our hobby has come on apace, and I - for one - would hate to see a return to the bad old days.

However, if you'll pardon me relapsing into old git territory, there are some notable absences from the show tanks of tropical tropical fish shops - mostly fish that used to be kept widely and which are now very seldom seen, but a few, which as far as I know, have never been kept within the trade and I have never understood why.

The Mosquito Fish (Gambusia affinis)

I have extolled the virtues of this singular species in these pages before. I think that it is true to say that if it were not for this particular fish, that the tropical fish hobby, and furthermore the multinational industry that supports it, would not exist. These were the first tropical fish to be kept in temperate climes. They are attractive, showy, engaging little fellows. If I may dare to be anthropomorphic - something I usually avoid like the plague - they are one of the few little fish that really seem to have characters. All the other members of the live bearers that I have come across are nice enough little beasts but hardly riveting company. Don't get me wrong - I have enjoyed keeping Platys any time since 1966, but even the most beautiful of them pales into insignificance besides a male gambusia in breeding colouration.

Originally these little fish come from the warm areas of the southern United States and Central America, but they have a natural attribute that mankind has found irresistible. Their favourite diet is mosquito larvae, and they have been introduced to many parts of the world - including southern Europe - as a preventative measure against malaria. Sadly, however, they have lapsed in popularity as a pet (largely because of their pugnacious nature), and they are very seldom seen in the these anodyne days. If you actually manage to get hold of any please do - you won't be disappointed.

Paddyfield Eel (Monopterus albus)

I was brought up in the last days of the British Empire. Indeed, during my childhood in Hong Kong, I was a witness (though I did not know it at the time), to the last years of Empire proper, before the remaining jewel in the Crown succumbed to a creeping menace of laissez faire capitalism. I remember the governor driving past in his open-topped car and a hat decorated with ostrich plumes. I remember the cannon being fired each day at noon. My memories of the 1960s, therefore, are somewhat different to those of anybody who lived through the decade of love in the UK. My early years as an aquarist, therefore, were spent on the opposite side of the world and so I have no real idea whether this wonderful species was ever widely kept in the UK. Similarly, because I have not lived in the Orient since 1980, I have no idea whether paddyfield Eels are still kept as pets in Hong Kong. But if they ain't they damn well should be.

Paddyfield eels are not eels at all, but members of the order Sybranchiformes or swamp eels. They grow to a length about a hundred centimetres, and are - as the name implies - vaguely eel-like in shape. They are mostly and muddy brown in colour, although there is a very striking chestnut colour morph. They are practically indestructible, and I have seen them kept alive on Chinese market stalls in wicker baskets, which are occasionally doused with water. Why, you must ask, am I extolling their virtues as pets? They ain't exactly attractive. No, they are not, but they are highly intelligent - and in my 38 years of fish keeping I believe that they are by far the cleverest fish that I have ever kept. Various girlfriends (and an ex wife), over the past two decades have complained that I keep fish and other animals in tanks and that you're not able to interact with them in the same way that you can a dog or cat. Well duh! They live in water for one thing, but if you are looking for a fish that will become your constant companion during those long winter evenings then you cannot do better than one of these.

They can become hand tame, will feed from your hand, and will even learn to recognise different people in the room. Nobody ever believes me when I say this, but I even had one once that would let me pet it. They are fantastic fish, and I believe that although you cannot buy them in pet shops, they are imported for the Chinese food market.

There is, of course, a downside. They will devour any other animal in the tank with them, and in parts of America and Hawaii they have become introduced into the wild where they have become an invasive pest. This has given them an enormous amount of bad press. However, I have been a journalist for many years and can whole-heartedly advise you not to believe all that you read in the papers. Try buying one of these fish - shove it in a tank by itself. Don't bother to decorate the tank, your new pet will destroy any ornamentation you care to provide, and will uproot all plants, but you'll have a friend for life.

The Bitterling (Rhodeus amarus)

Even 15 years ago these fish were commonly seen for sale in high street pet stores. However, I haven't seen them for years. This is a great pity, because they are cheap and delightful pets. They are attractive little things - of a strange violet hue, and are lively and fun to watch. But it is their breeding habits, which are most notable. In the spring the males possess all the colours of the rainbow, and the females develop a strange fleshy ovipositor. In order to breed successfully they need the presence of a freshwater mussel into which the female lays her eggs. The male guards the mussel until the eggs have hatched.

Once upon a time these were very commonly kept, and as far as I'm aware it is purely because of the vagaries of fashion that they are no longer seen in pet shops. There are several closely related species of bitterling including some from the Far East, which can be kept in tropical tanks rather than cold-water ones. These charming little fish are well overdue a comeback.

If you ever get a chance to keep them, please do. You will not be disappointed.

Freshwater Pipefish

For my final selection I would like to choose something a little bit different. Freshwater pipefish are occasionally seen on dealers lists in the USA but I have never seen any in this country. The Syngnathidae or Pipefish family includes over 200 species, distributed worldwide except for the polar regions, mostly in marine environments. A small number of species reside in freshwater habitats. The Syngnathidae family is characterised by a body encased in a series of bony rings; a tube-like snout; and a lack of pelvic fins. Eggs are incubated in the abdominal pouch of the male.

Freshwater species are found in Africa, Indonesia and Central America. I first heard about them in one of Gerald Durrell's excellent books about animal collecting in Africa in the 1940s, and they have fascinated me ever since. From what I can gather, they are relatively easy to keep in a 35-45 gallon (132-170 l) tank. The tank should have a sand - preferably coral sand - substrate and be in a location that receives morning sun. Plant the tank heavily with plants that can tolerate the slightly brackish water conditions. The filter should create a moderate current and the tank must be well aerated. They can even be bred in captivity. With the growing popularity of exotic species such as freshwater stingrays, it is only a matter of time - I believe - before they are available commonly in British shops. When they are, remember where you read about them first.

DAVID MARSHALL: The Ryedale Aquarist Society Open Show

The CFZ Alliance is basically a coalition of many disparate organisations and people who are basically batting for the same side, and who have basically the same philosphy regarding the importance of Natural History, and the fascination of Cryptozoology. Today, for the first time, I am happy to introduce you to an old compadre of mine - David Marshall

On Sunday 26th April seasoned and novice Aquarists’ alike travelled from many corners of the U.K. in order to join the members of the Ryedale Aquarist Society for their annual aquarium fish Open Show, which was held at the Kirkbymoorside Memorial Hall.

This year the event was split into two sections.

The first of these was a full Open Show with 45 Classes covering the full range of tropical freshwater and coldwater fish. 20 families brought along a total of 180 fish, many of which were of an extremely high standard, and these were judged to Y.A.A.S. rules and standards.

The main results were as follows: -
Best in Show - Mr. B. O’ Neill (Workington Aquarist Society) with a Humpbacked limia.
Best Exhibit - Mr. Mark Walters (Castleford A.S.)
Best goldfish - Mr. N. Swales (STAMPS)
Junior Award - Miss A. Charters (STAMPS)

The second section consisted of a Guppy only show that formed part of the British Livebearer Association Guppy Section Show League. A total of 40 fish were entered in the 3 Classes. BLA Judges judged to their own rules and standards.

The Class winners were as follows:-
Broad tail guppy - Mr. S. Elliott
Sword tail guppy - Mr. D. Jordan
Short tail guppy - Mr. M. Clarke

22 families submitted auction ‘lots’ giving Mr. Steve Jones and his auctioneering team a very busy, but enjoyable, afternoon.

The Ryedale members send their thanks to the small army of helpers from both the Y.A.A.S. and T.T.A.A.F.B.A.S. for their wonderful help, to all the exhibitors who brought along their best fish, to the people who brought their auction ‘lots’, aquatic industry and tourist attractions for their generous support, to all our friends who made the journey to be with us and interested visitors from the Ryedale area who came along to view the fish exhibits.

On Sunday 4th October the Society will return to the Kirkbymoorside Memorial Hall to host an Open mini-show and auction of aquatic items. Further details to follow.

THE RIDDLE OF THE LAKE GUINAS TILAPIA

This is one of the most obscure - and rarest - fish in the world. It is found only in two small lakes in Namibia, and no-one knows exactly how they got there because there are are no other bodies of water for miles.

But arrive they did, and the little fish have adapted well to the rigours of the harsh desert environment.

However, changing environmental conditions and farming practises mean that both lakes are now rapidly losing water, with dire implications for the tilapia which are now considered to be `critically endangered`. These are from a captive colony at Farnham Birdworld in Surrey...

NOBBY: The Queen of Wildwoods

Another picture from the CFZ archives:

This is Nobby. Nobby was a female giant gourami who for many years lived at Wildwoods Aquatic Centre, Crews Hill near Enfield in Middlesex. I first met her whilst on tour with Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel in 1990, and regularly paid her visits until she died in the early years of this century.

She was a fantastic old fish, and was truly enormous, and was one of the few fish that I have ever met who was truly `tame`.
(The other was an elderly oscar belonging to my mate Brian back in the early 1980s.)

She recognised her favourite members of staff, would swim to the top of the tank to take processed peas off a fork, and to be fussed, and would interact with passers by in a way that very few fish ever do.

Then one day in the early years of this century/millenium/decade we paid a visit to Enfield, and Nobby was gone. Her tank was empty, and there was a sign on it saying that she had passed over to the great aquatic centre in the sky.

However, I went back to Wildwoods a year or so ago, and found that Nobby was back. Her unmistakeable visage grinned down at me from a glass case on the wall. She had always been the Quesn of Wildwoods, and now she will never leave..

POOR LITTLE SODS

The saga of the CFZ ramerizi trundles on. As I write there are three left, and although they still look OK, I would not be at all surprised to find one or more dead in the bottom of the tank tomorrow morning when I come down to the office. We have been doing our research (which we should have done earlier), and it seems that we managed to screw up the pH which on this occasion was pretty much our fault.

However, the entire species in aquaculture seems to be pretty much sinned against, which is something that I never realised. Mary Bailey (the doyenne of the British Cichlid scene) wrote to me yesterday explaining the unpleasant facts of ramerizi life:

"Most Rams are mass produced with no quality control, shipped to the UK in little plastic envelopes with virtually no water, and then decanted into asuccession of different water types in the importer-wholesaler-retailerchain. By the time the aquarist buys them they are ready to pop their poorlittle clogs, and it's a miracle they last that long. A lot don't. I can't keep these mass-produced rams alive myself. They're usually all males anyway, as they keep the females for broodstock, or ship different sexes to different countries to prevent aquarists breeding them and spoiling the market".

I don't know about you guys, but I think that this is absolutely bloody shameful. As I get older I get more to the way of thinking that although they have the answers wrong the animal rights brigade really do have a point.

If we want to be able to continue to have exotic pets and zoos, then we - as a community - are damn well going to have to start policing ourselves, and moreover, we are going to have to start doing it properly before it is too late.

GUEST BLOGGER EMMA BIDDLE: Huffing and Puffing

It is always a great pleasure to introduce a new guest blogger to the CFZ Bloggo. When the guest blogger is a charming young lady it is an even greater pleasure (I hope that doesn't make me sound like some middle-aged sleazebag, because that truly is not my intention). So let me waste no time in introducing you to Emma Biddle, a fishkeeping fortean who has been dating Matty O for several months now...

My blog is about one of my favourites: Puffer fish. I first got into puffer fish about 3 years ago when I purchased my first from a pet shop who knew nothing about him, he was a Tetraodon Suvattii, I bought him home and put him in my tank with my tropical fish. Ummm.... big mistake, as anyone who has ever kept them will know. He killed my entire tankful in one sitting and looking quite pleased with himself. So I thought I would write a little about these remarkable and quirky fish.

Tetraodontidae – Four Toothed: Puffer fish are the second most poisonous vertebrate in the world the first being a golden poison frog.

Puffer Fish Compatibility: One of the most frustrating things about puffer fish is that they usually cannot be kept with other puffer fish or anything smaller than they are as the other fish tend to get eaten !

Jumping Puffer Fish: You will definitely want to cover the surface of your aquarium if you have a puffer fish if they get too stressed in the tank not only can they puff up like a balloon by sucking in air, they can also jump out of the tank in an effort to get away, my dog faced puffer did this on more than one occasion and luckily enough we were in the room at the time and able to quickly put him back, from then on I decided it was best to put a cover over the top to prevent him doing so again!

Puffer Fish Dentistry: Puffer fish have beak like teeth that are fused together and can become problematic if they grow too long. In the wild, puffer fish eat all kinds of things that act to file down their teeth. Puffer fish owners are advised to give their puffer fish things to gnaw on to grind down their teeth, hard shelled cockle is often recommended. If not addressed, the puffer fish's teeth can grow so long that it is unable to eat its food. Many puffer fish keepers actually file down their puffer fish's teeth if they get too long for hard shelled food to correct.

Puffer Fish Are Poisonous!!!!!:A puffer fish's body contains a type of poison called Tetrodotoxin, this is also found in other species such as the blue –ringed octopus and cone snails. Tetrodotoxin is produced within the puffers by bacteria it gets from its diet, the puffer is immune to this poison due to a mutation in the protein sequence of the sodium ion channel on the cell membranes. It can be found in all the organs but mainly the liver, ovaries and skin.

Tetrodotoxin is an exceptionally lethal poison, which is said to be 100 times deadlier than potassium cyanide. It is a sodium channel blocker which paralyzes the muscles whilst the victim is fully conscious and slowly asphyxiates them, at present there is no antidote and is normally treated by trying to support the victims respiratory and circulatory system until the poison wears off.

Fugu is the Japanese word for puffer fish, and also the name of the dish created with its meat normally from the genus Didon i.e porpcupinefish, and is lethal if prepared wrongly hence fugu has now become one of the most notorious dishes in Japanese cuisine

A new drug is being developed called Tectin that is derived from Tetrodotoxin, it is a potent pain reliever, which if administered in tiny doses can help relieve the pain experienced from certain cancer sufferers. It is also being researched to see if it can help opiate suffers through withdrawl

THERE MUST BE A GOOD PUN HERE..

To continue on the multi-headed teratological theme of the last few days, here is a picture from the CFZ archives. I took it in the early 1990s at the old Plymouth Aquarium. It is a two-headed shark (a dogfish of some kind, a nursehound I think, if my memory serves me well).


There must be a decent pun for a suitable headline for this story, but I'm damned if I can think of one. What's the betting that either Tony Lucas or Oll will deliver the goods.

THE STRANGE STORY OF BARRY THE POLYCHAETE

Don't you just love the English. In the 19th Century an intrepid explorer would travel for years across trackless wastes and impenetrable jungle, and eventually reach their destination: a malaria-infested swamp in the middle of nowhere that they would proudly call `Picadilly`

Now, this is a similar syndrome. At Newquay's Blue Reef Aquarium, "something" had been causing havoc in one of their reef tanks. Matt Slater, the aquarium's curator, said:

'Something was guzzling our reef but we had no idea what, we also found an injured Tang Fish so we laid traps but they got ripped apart in the night.

They finally found the culprit: a four foot long tropical polychaete worm which had probably arrived as a juvenile in a shipment of living rock.

'That worm must have obliterated the traps. The bait was full of hooks which he must have just digested.'

Mr Slater said:

'It really does look like something out of a horror movie. It's over four feet long with these bizarre-looking jaws.

We also discovered that he is covered with thousands of bristles which are capable of inflicting a sting resulting in permanent numbness.'

At the risk of sounding like Lloyd Grossman, let's review the evidence:

1. Giant polychaete worm
2. Ugly to the point of something out of H.P.Lovecraft
3. Destroys a whole fishtank and eats fish
4. Can digest fish-hooks
5. Four feet long and probably growing
6. Can deliver a poisonous sting which permanantly numbs the person stung

Do they call itany of the following?

a. Satan
b. Hitler
c. Blair
d. Beelzebub
e. Devilworm
f. Cthullu

No

They call it Barry! Don't you just love the English. It is at times like this that I am so very proud of my race. It is dogged stolidness like this which got us an Empire. Well done lads and lasses! You have made an ageing manic-depressive Imperialist very proud of you.

However, I have another problem. The animal-keeper in me is overwhelmed by complete avarice. I want one!

PHASE ONE OF OUR NEW BREEDING PROJECT COMPLETED

Yesterday we finally completed the first phase of our new aquarium expansion. The seven Japanese bitterlings that we bought some weeks ago due to the good offices of Max Blake have been trans-ferred from their holding tank in the conservatory, into the palatious new one inside.

They have been joined by a swan mussell, and the oriental weather loach which have been in a tank in the conservatory since 2006, which frees up two small outside tanks. The guppies from the big South American tank in the conservatory have been taken up to the tank we have set up in The Farmer's Arms and tonmorrow the Endler's Livebearers which have been cluttering up Corinna's kitchen since December will take their place...

Complicated isn't it?

THE BRITISH GUPPY

I would hazard a guess that the fishkeeping careers of a large proportion of the readers of this bloggo started with the humble guppy. A strikingly attractive, and ridiculously hardy little fish, specimens can be purchased for well under a quid in any petshop in the land. It is a native of north-eastern South America north of the Amazon, and some of its offshore islands (the Leeward Islands, Trinidad, and Barbados in the Windward group) from where it has been introduced to many West Indian islands to control mosquitoes. It was introduced into North America for the same purpose in 1908 and to Hong Kong in the years just after WW1. All this is well known, but what is less well known is that there are, or at least were guppies living wild in the UK.

According to Sir Christopher Lever, the world`s expert on the subject of naturalised animals, during the 1970`s there were at least two colonies of these hardy little tropical fish living wild in the United Kingdom. But how is this? you might well ask. The more eco-concerned of you might start to rant about the abominable effects of global warming, but in fact the tale has a far less portentious explanation.

Between July 1966 1966 and February 1968, zoologist B.S.Meadows carried out a study into a naturalised population of guppies that were living in a stretch of the River Lea which runs through Hackney in north-east London, where the temperature of the water had been raised to an ideal height for these tiny South American fishes. Ironically the population only surviveds because that portion of the river was so polluted that the only remaining native fish was the three spined stickleback which did not pose a threat to the burgeoning population of tropical livebearers.

When he wrote his seminal book “The Naturalised Animals of the British Isles” in 1975, Sir Christopher Lever noted sadly, that although the gradual clean-up of the river could only be a good thing environmentally speaking, it would probably mean the end of the River Lea`s population of guppies as larger, predatory species recolonised their old haunts, and munched away at the dwindling population of tropical interlopers.

History doesn`t relate whether Lever`s dismal predictions were right or not, because around about 190 the old coal powered power station was closed down for good, and whether or not there were any siurviving guppies in the river, they would certainly have died out when the water temperature returned to normal.

The other population of British guppies has an even morte interesting – and tragic – history. In 1963, a pet shop in Lancashire went out of business and the proprietor, hearlessly threw all his stock of tropical fish into the St Helen`s Canal, where they would undoubtedly have died very quickly had a 400 yard stretch of the waterway not been heated to an ideal temperature for tropical fish by the discharge from the nearby Pilkington Brothers Glass Factory.

According to Lever, a viable breeding population of guppies and also of Red Bellied Tilapia (Tilapia zillii) was soon established along with non breeding populations of angel fish, mollies and an un-named species of tropical catfish. According to Leslie Bromilow, the secretary of the St Helen`s Angling Association, this stretch of canal became known as “The Hotties” and the tropical intruders survived happily there for many years.

However, this story too has an unhappy ending. Leslie told us wryly: “unfortunately about ten years ago they switched the pumps off and the water cooled down and all the fish dies, but there is still a thriving population of Red Eared Terrapins”.

We spoke to the press office at Pilkington Brothers who confirmed Leslie`s story, and although they bemoaned the fact that they had destroyed the country`s only surviving wild population of tropical fish, they were not at all impressed by our suggestion that the least that they could do was to release thirty quids worth of guppies back into the water and start again.

So there you have it? Is the guppy (and the red bellied tilapia) finally extinct in the UK or are there other serendipitously introduced populations lurking in areas where industrial activity has inadvertantly provided an environment where they can live and thrive?

A little bit of history in your tank

At the beginning of the 21st century there is an enormous variety of fish for the aquarist to choose from. One of the most exciting parts of my job is when I receive a dealer's list which includes newly discovered species which haven't even been given Latin names. I have been keeping tropical fish since I was a boy in the mid-1960s, and on a whole, the fish that I started with are those still used by beginners today.

I suppose if I had thought about it - and I have to admit that until I came to write this article I hadn't really - I had imagined that these myriad living jewels were of the home aquarium had been known to science for for many many years, even if they hadn't been commonly kept as pets until the technology to allow them to be so, had been developed.

How wrong I was. It turns out that some of the fish most popular with aquarists are actually relatively recent discoveries. In many ways it could be said that the proliferation of tropical fish species known to science is actually a direct result of the expansion of what was once a mildly arcane rich man's hobby into a multinational industry worth tens of billions of dollars each year.

Take the neon tetra for example. Although it is found in its untold millions in the Rio Putumayo - one of the tributaries of the Amazon, it was not actually discovered until 1936 when a French animal collector called A. Rabout noticed them by accident whilst he was actually trying to do something completely different! He was canoeing along the river when he saw a large shoal of these ridiculously beautiful fish. He scooped about half-a-dozen up in his hat, and the rest is history!

He sent them to Chicago's John G. Shield Aquarium where they were given a Latin name Paracheirodon innesi in honour of the famous pioneering and aquarist, William T.Innes whose seminal work on tropical fish in the 1930s has been my favourite fish book for four decades. The popular name was a topical one because the psychedelic glare of neon lighting had only just begun to make its presence felt on the American consciousness. For many years the precise location of the natural habitat of these tiny fish was a closely guarded secret! It seems strange today, when you can pick up this lovely fish for a handful of pennies, to look back at the days when neon tetras were so highly sought-after that a single specimen could cost more than all the other fish in a collector's tank.

The names of fish can often give a clue to the date of a species discovery. Like the neon tetra, Cichlasoma biocellatum - a particularly pugnacious species of cichlid is the proud possessor of a topical name which ties down the discovery date nicely. At any other time its common name would have been the same as its Latin name - the twin eyed cichlid. However, at the time of its discovery in 1909, C Tate Regan, the man who fished the type specimen out of the Rio Negro, was a boxing fan and named this plucky little cichlid after Jack Dempsey the famous boxer. As Dempsey didn't rise to fame until after the First World War, and didn't reach his legendary status until the 1920s, it appears that its common name arrived some years after its discovery.

Years ago I remember telling my father about this legendary fish, and he told me how - whilst a sailor on shore leave in New York during the war - he had drunk with the famous boxer at a bar he had bought after his retirement in 1940.

Even the Guppy - possibly the most ubiquitous tropical fish in the world was only discovered in 1856 when Julius Gollmer, a German pharmacist living in Caracas caught some colourful little fish which he eventually sent back as part of a shipment of animals to the Berlin Zoo. The first delivery of these fishes brought to their discoverer an inordinate amount of praise and a gratuity of hundred Reichstaler. However, the 16 dead guppies preserved in alcohol stayed on the shelf of a German museum for several years before they were finally named. For some reason, although both male and female guppies had been sent, only the females were described, and it wasn't until 1866 when Reverend John Lechmere Guppy sent both males and females back from Trinidad that the notable degree of sexual dimorphism which has made these lovely little fish perennial aquarium favourites ever since, was noted and the fish named after the good Padre of Trinidad.

If it hadn't been for the ineptitude of the experts at the National Museum of Germany then the tiny fish which has become one of the most famous Aquarium denizens of all time would have been called The Gollmer!

The Cardinal Tetra is a surprisingly recent discovery. The type specimens were found in the Rio Negro only three years before my birth in 1959. Once again, it is very tempting to draw links between the invention of new technology for the fish keeper and the discovery of a number of new species. The invention - in the mid-1950s - of the under gravel filter revolutionised fish keeping around the world. It was the first truly biological medium for ensuring water purity and it has - with some degree of justification - been described as the most important technical advance in the history of a hobby. There is no doubt that the discovery revolutionised fish keeping and led to a renewed level of public interest. This in turn drove the movers and shakers of the aquarist community to search out new and exotic creatures which they could display for the public edification. The Cardinal Tetra was one of these. The common name comes from a fanciful idea that they resemble the colours worn by a high ranking prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, and the scientific name - axelrodi is a none too subtle nod to one of the market leaders in the global fish keeping industry.

It is sad to note that within only a few years of its discovery these fish were being described as becoming a threatened species in the wild.

When examining the literature surrounding the discovery of so many of these species, one realises quite how important the global Aquarium industry has become. Most of the creatures described in this article were, indeed, discovered a result of market forces led expeditions whose only remit was to discover more species suitable for introduction into the Global Pet market. However, there is another paradigm which is almost equally prevalent. This is where a species - plecostamus sucker mouth catfish are a good example - is discovered by a scientific team sent out by a university or museum. These (now ubiquitous) fish were mostly discovered in the 1930s, but were not introduced into the aquarium trade for some decades. The species is captured, named and then forgotten until - almost by accident - it is "rediscovered" by an industry who has decided that it is ripe for exploitation.

In some cases it is possible to see how the integration of certain fish species into the popular market place comes as a result of human politics. The Spanish American war at the beginning of the 20th century not only changed the political map of the world with the Philippines, Puerto Rico and several other places coming under American rule, but was instrumental in a number of Central American species - including platys and swordtails being introduced to the domain of the home aquarist. The expansion of the British Empire in the 19th century led to the discovery of gouramis as pet fish - originally in the ornamental pools of the Raj, and later as exhibits in the first British tropical aquaria.

The pages of the history books, which tell the story of aquaculture, make uncomfortable reading. Like so many branches of Human Endeavour they tell the story of how mankind rapes, abuses and finally denudes whole sections of the planet on which we have been privileged to evolve. Nowadays the industry likes to feel that it is far more ethical than it has been in the past. Indeed, that is generally the case. However, it is important with fish keeping - as with everything else - not to lose the sight of the lessons of history. Although sometimes the story of the discovery of a species - like the Guppy - merely reveals a mildly amusing insight into the human Psyche, on other occasions - such as the cardinal Tetra - the story is a far less edifying one, and furthermore one which we as hobbyists would do well to take heed of.

OI FOUR EYES

The Anableps, known to aquarists as the four-eyed fish, is a small creature of the streams,rivers and estuaries from southern Mexico to northern South America. There are actually three closely related species of four eyed fish. Anableps dowi is found as far north as Mexico, while A. anableps and A. microlepis are found further south. These are not only one of my personal favourite fish but unusually for the fish I will be describing in this column it is one that can sometimes be seen for sale to private hobbyists.

Its name is sadly misleading – it doesn`t actually have four eyes, but the two it does have are so specially modified as to be unique within the animal kingdom. Each eye is divided in half horizontally with two separate optical systems, each with its own focal length. The top half is for seeing in the air; the bottom half is for underwater.

This fish swims at the top of the water with its eyes projecting partway into the air. The upper half of each eye can see threatening birds of prey in the air. The lower half, different in structure, can see underwater and enables the fish to find food.

Anableps are mostly found in brackish water where there is heavy algal growth and detritus, and they can withstand wide fluctuations in salinity. In recent years it has been noted that occasionally, Anableps will climb out on land and sit on the mud flats of tidal estuaries where it fulfills many of the same ecological roles as the mudskippers do in the mangrove swamps of Africa and Asia. They eat pretty well anything that moves and quite a lot of stuff that doesn`t, but if you are intending to keep these fascinating creatures as pets you should note that they are primarily surface feeders and will usually ignore food that has fallen to the bottom.

Although most of the emphasis upon anableps is on its peculiar eyes, these are not the only strange things about these singular creatures. Their breeding habits are, if anything, even more extraordinary. Anableps are internally fertilizing and viviparous. In other words, they give birth to live young and provide the embryos with nutrition throughout gestation However the cloaca of a female A. anableps is covered by a single large scale that is unattached on either the right or the left side. The rays of the anal fin of a male Anableps are modified into a tubular gonopodium that can only be bent to the left or the right. Thus, only a “right-handed” male can mate with a “left-handed female” and vice versa. Luckily for the survival of these gloriously peculiar fish the proportion of left-handed males in a population seems to be equal to the proportion of right-handed females . However, surprisingly, it has been reported that right-handed males (60%) are more common than left-handed males (40%)

Anableps are wonderful fish and apparently make charming pets. I have only ever seen them once, when Corinna and I were in Enfield following our near fatal car crash about 18 months ago. I had no way of getting them home so I didn't buy them, although I have been kicking myself ever since. I have often thought that they should be more widely kept and if this article of mine has done something in a small way to further interest in these delightful creatures then I shall have done something very useful for once in my life!

NEW CATFISH POSES MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS

A new species of catfish, which - it is claimed - "could grasp and climb rocks with its tail and mouth", has been discovered in a remote part of Venezuela, and - bizarrely - shares traits with two different fish families — Loricariidae (armored catfishes) and Astroblepidae (climbing catfishes). It has bony armor that protects its head and tail, and a grasping pelvic fin that helps it to climb vertical surfaces such as rocks.

Studies of L. wahari confirmed that the species is a member of a group that bridges two catfish families. Bony plates on its head and tail, plus other features, link the species to the Loricariidae, the widespread and successful family of fully armored catfishes. but the specialised pelvic finthat decouples from its body and moves backward and forward independently is otherwise found only in a family of climbing catfish restricted to the Andes, the Astroblepidae. Climbing could be an advantage to these fishes because of the irregular and sometimes high-flow of streams in these elevations.

So many new South American Catfish have been discovered in recent years that taxonomists have had to resort to a novel way of cataloguing them. David Marshall, of the Ryedale Aquarists Society and an old friend of the CFZ writes:

In the late 1980's a small variety of loricarins new to the U.K. aquarium hobby began appearing in aquatic retail outlets. All of these fish were given exotic-sounding common names so a small white fish with black stripes was sold as the emperor or zebra peckoltia, a fish with wavy black and yellow markings the scribbled plec, and one with a dark black body and white spots was sold as the vampire plec.

From the scant information that could be obtained, mainly through friendly retailers, U.K. aquarists were led to believe that all of these fish had originated from the Rio Xingu area of Brazil and were vegetarian by nature. It would take sometime for this information to be corrected, and make aquarists realise that these particular loricarins’ natural range extended beyond the Xingu area and that their dietary requirements were actually very varied.

As more of these loricarins began to appear, the sales tickets on their aquaria (first seen in Yorkshire through L 018 - Baryancistrus niveatus 'golden nugget') began to show a sequence that began with the letter L followed by a series of numbers. Shortly afterwards the letters LDA began the sequence with some of these fish. The shape and character of the sequenced species was also starting to change as no longer did they all have the look of a miniature plecostomus, but some resembled whiptail catfish, others large otocinclus, and then came the truly bizarre sight of little loricarins with grey and black marbled patterns - best described as elongated wine gums with fins. What on earth was going on?

When all was revealed, it became clear that these loricarins had been available on the European mainland for some time before we had seen them in the U.K. They were appearing not only from the Rio Xingu, but from many other areas of South America. As each new fish had been discovered, the well known German magazine DATZ had featured their portrait.

Worried about varying common names that had been given to these fish in the trade, the DATZ Editorial staff had come up with a system in which each new fish would be given an L-Sequenced number that would allow it to be universally recognised, until the scientific community could get through the tortuous procedure of giving them a proper scientific name. Going back in their records revealed that the fish U.K. hobbyists would come to know as the `white spot pleco` had been the first to be pictured, so this fish began the L Sequence as L 001 (L1). With some of the new species, it was clear to see that these were only colour, or regional, variants of loricarins already sequenced. So this was indicated, by adding a lower-case letter at the end of their number. Thus L O90d is the fourth known variant of ‘panaque species Peru'.

The Editorial staff of the rival German magazine Das Aquarium had also received photographs of other new loricarins coming out of South America, along with different-looking photographs of some of the L numbered fish, so not to be outdone they created the LDA numbering system for their photographs. Starting this sequence was the gold peckoltia which thus became LDA 01 (LDA1).

So from the start, we had confusion with different L and LDA numbers applying to the same fish. This became even more compounded when regional and colour variations of sequenced loricarins would slip through the system, thus giving them a totally different L number than that already assigned for their kind.

This would become partly to blame for further errors occurring, as other aquatic publications began captioning loricarin photographs with incorrect L and LDA numbers. These problems aside, the two sequencing systems remain the recognised - and best - way to keep a record of all the subject species, until the arduous task of scientifically naming them all is finally completed.

It is hard to keep track of LDA numbered fish through publications available in Britain, but by September 2003 a total of 76 loricarins had been sequenced. Thankfully, information on the L numbered loricarins is easier to come by, and of September 2004 the sequence had reached number 387.

One has to wonder why all these new catfish species have suddently turned up at once. Is it merely that the Amerindian collectors are now plundering hitherto untapped areas? Is it that they are better at their job than they used to be? Or could it be that something is causing a far greater degree of speciation than usual, and producing a bucketload of new species. This peculiar new species with which I started this column would tend to support that hypothesis.