# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Cyprinids >  Danio margaritatus (formerly known as Celestichthys margaritatus)

## hwchoy

A new undescribed species from Northern Myanmar, called _Microrasbora_ sp. 'galaxy' in the trade. It has now arrived in Singapore. Available at Eco Culture!

 


Pictures courtesy of AquariCorp.

see my fish  :Grin:    :Grin:

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## Ah_ZhaN

what is the maximum size of this fish ?

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## Ibn

Dang, that's a beauty. These guys school at all and how large do they get? Anyone that picked up a few of these care to comment on their behaviors?

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## hwchoy

they do school but are also quarrelsome between the males, flaring and spinning around. typical microrasbora behaviour. very small buggers, they're about 1.5cm now, probably no more than 2-2.5cm at max.

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## mickthefish

hey choy, according to kamphol keep the belly full or you'll start losing them.

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## SCOPE

Nice fishes indeed......enjoying my 20 pieces for few hours last night....amazing coloration in such small fishes.......

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## Ivan

Hi,

Can these fishes keep together with cherry or Malayan shrimps :Huh?:

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## Fei Miao

Very striking colours!

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## Justikanz

Very unique colours and patterns!... I don't think they will still be available when my new office tank is set up in 2-3 month's time! :Crying:  

By the way, what are their water requirements?  :Huh?:

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## vinz

Oooo... nice. They looked starved though (flat tummy).

Choy, can you take a photo of them in a school? Be nice to see what they look like from normal viewing distance. Not everyone stares at their fish up close like you, you know?  :Razz:

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## hwchoy

only got 5, have to feed them up first  :Smile:

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## Calamari

Hi guys,

To the fellow owners of "galaxy" , what diets have they been on? 
Any trick to get them to darken their bodies?

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## Betta Almighty

Mine seems to be ok with flakes. Any site with more infomation and description on these fellas?

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## hwchoy

you are among the first people to have this fish, worldwide. where to find site with more infomation?  :Very Happy:

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## percy

i've just got 10 of this from eco-culture last night. after putting them in the tank, i feed them with baby brineshrimp (bbs) and after a while, few of them start to show their colors already. this morning i checked them out again and saw that almost all of them have colored up already. haven't feed them anything yet other than bbs. i guess they would be fine with flakes/granules as well. :Smile:

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## Betta Almighty

> you are among the first people to have this fish, worldwide. where to find site with more infomation?


lol, soon there will be plenty. Any idea if its wild caught or captive bred?

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## hwchoy

> lol, soon there will be plenty. Any idea if its wild caught or captive bred?


bred? will have to tan ku ku (wait long long).  :Flame:

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## gregorsamsa

nice fish.

i saw them at the shop near aquastar yishun.

was tempted to buy them but they have a price tag which i feel may drop soon, and partly because i hardly keep expensive "small fish".

seeing them in person, i would think they are really a distinctive addition to any aquaria. :Well done:

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## Betta Almighty

> bred? will have to tan ku ku (wait long long).


lol.... must be wild caught than.

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## Quixotic

Okay, you guys have had them for a week or more now. Care to share more information of them, husbandry wise? What tank mates are you keeping them with?

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## hwchoy

heads up! another hundred pieces just arrived at Eco Culture. Rush if you want them! 



here are my updated pix…

male



female

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## Quixotic

Choy, what are you feeding them till they get round round fat fat?

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## hwchoy

tetra flakes

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## Quixotic

Do your fishes look emaciated when you first got them? So far, a lot of them look rather thin, but they are at least taking the tetra flakes.

I've gotten 20 of them!  :Jump for joy:

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## valice

> bred? will have to tan ku ku (wait long long).


According to Practical Fishkeeping the magazine, the Bolton Museum Aquarium just managed to breed them. More details and an in-depth article on the species follow in the December 2006 issue of PFK.

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## hwchoy

last I heard they have spawning and some hatchlings, but they still weren't sure as most eggs taking too long to hatch.

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## Ah_ZhaN

Hi folks, anyone feed live food such as daphnia, brine shrimps and tubifex worms to their 'galaxy' ?  :Grin:

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## Quixotic

I am feeding live tubifex and flakes. They go crazy over live tubifex. Tried frozen dapnia but they didn't like it one single bit.

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## percy

i have fed them with live daphnia and brine shrimp before. they seem to like it. no problem feeding them.

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## freezze

are they shy in nature? saw them at the colorful fishshop at thomson last week.. quite expensive..

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## valice

> are they shy in nature? saw them at the colorful fishshop at thomson last week.. quite expensive..


Let them fight out a hierachy and the dominant one will come out while the submissive one will hide abit...

And wild and beautiful fishes always come at a price...  :Wink: 
Hope the shops don't start a price war...  :Knockout:

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## vinccc2003

Mine is the strongest survive...loser eventually xxx

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## Quixotic

What do you mean by that? Do you mean that the loser actually ended up dead?

Hmm... mine loves to spar with one another, ending possibly with torn fins et al but no fatality whatsoever. In fact, there isn't just one dominant male but several in the tank.

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## vinccc2003

Maybe your tank is bigger than mine. The one that survive is the most beautiful and the fattest.

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## valice

I think we encountering the same situation... Small tank and only the most colourful and fattest surviving... And teh female of course... The other males are biten to submission...

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## Quixotic

Interesting, perhaps an anomaly rather than the norm?

I kept some in a 3ft community tank and some in a 1ft cube on their own. Didn't noticed anything unusual except for a few which died due to poor health. And I am sure I have a number of males in each tank.

I have more than 10 in each of the tanks, so perhaps this helps in spreading the aggression? I will spend more time monitoring them out of curiousity.

Another interesting thing that I noticed for my case is that, my males are much larger than my females.

Edit: I just thought of something though. Could it be that the male is in spawning mood? Though it is not known if this is the case for this fish, spawning could be a trigger to acertain its success in the tank.

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## Ibn

Didn't have any problems with aggression, but maybe the numbers that I kept for awhile was a bit high where the aggression was dispersed.

I had 100 of them in a 20 gallon tank. Two of them ended up with some absolutely amazing coloration.

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## plumboy21

Here's one of mine!! From C328!  :Grin:

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## ranmasatome

This fish is starting to sprout up everywhere... even here in japan.. i went to the shops last night and it was there in the shop... cost is something like $1x dollars for one.

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## Justikanz

Dear all, there is another thread on these little galaxies in AquaTalk: http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=23761

Please use that thread for discussion on casual comments/discussions on where to buy etc... Hopefully, we can use this thread to discuss on the behaviour/habitat/feeding etc of this fish. Thank you.

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## plumboy21

It's a pleasure to watch these critters swim around. They have the tendencies to swim till near gravels or plants to hunt for food or something, behaves a little like drawf puffers. But they do not seemed interested in flake or palete, maybe not used to them yet.

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## bryan

Those Hikari micro pellets should do fine. I've a friend feeding them with it.

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## kadios

Halo!

Got mine from C328 and they were looking fine in the small tank. However, after putting them in my 2 footer, they turned timid and hide behind the plants. You cannot see them at all. Is it because of my open tank concept. Currently, running 36W PL on a 2 1 1 tank. Feeding them is vexing as I have to pour the sinking tetra flakes into the water and only 2 of them rush out to nibble cautiously before running back to its hideout. Please help!

Cheers!

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## jljx

Just Wondering... 

Will all this sudden poaching affect the sustainability of the natural population... since its new and there is a craze... 

Anyways, I bought 10 of these lovelies and have kept them in my Moss tank. Feeding them micro pellets that I bought from Gan's. They love it... all 10 are doing well.

They are very skittish... fly into cover at any sudden movement... very cute. Seems curious when i stare at them, 1 will slowly come towards the tank to "investigate" then the others will join in.

Any clearer tips on how to sex these fishes?

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## Quixotic

> ...But they do not seemed interested in flake or palete, maybe not used to them yet...


You are discussing their husbandary and this is the correct thread for it.

They just about eat anything actually. They forage among the plants or near the gravel to pick up food that drops to the bottom. Spend more time watching.  :Wink:  




> ...Feeding them is vexing as I have to pour the sinking tetra flakes into the water and only 2 of them rush out to nibble cautiously before running back to its hideout..


Don't need to do that. They will need time to get use to your tank when first introduced. Just feed what you normally feed your other fishes, but if you are standing too near, they will not eat in the open.

Once they get used to the routine, man, they eat like pigs! If you are worried, like I did as some of them were emaciated, then use live food for a couple of days, tubifex, daphnia or BBS to fatten them up.




> Just Wondering... 
> 
> Will all this sudden poaching affect the sustainability of the natural population... since its new and there is a craze... 
> 
> (snipped)
> 
> Any clearer tips on how to sex these fishes?


Poaching? Uhm, poaching = illegal fishing or hunting. There isn't any law that prohibits this, neither are they endangered species. So no poaching going on.  :Wink:  

Your concern is certainly understandable, but I think we may have reached the saturation point already, and if not, pretty soon, going by the declining prices. I don't think there is any immediate danger as for now as the collection point is not made known yet.

On the sexing, you haven't gone through the entire thread? There are pictures of male and female each. The pelvic and anal fins of the female is colourless/less colourful.

Another observation that I made is that the male is normally larger than the female. I am not sure if this is the norm as no one has mentioned this yet, but I observed this from my fishes and also the recent batch in EC, the males are definitely larger.

Enjoy your fishes. They are really interesting to observe, especially when two males sparring with each other.

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## hwchoy

actually in my several batches the females are significantly larger.

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## Quixotic

Haha... it's not the norm then, guess my males must have eaten too much!  :Opps:

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## andrewtyr

mine is on tubifex worms, they adapt to changes rather well. But they don't shoal that well.

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## plumboy21

The galaxies are eating now. So far so good. They are not shy or afraid of anyone thought they are the smallest fishes in my tank of cherry barbs, neon and golden tetras and varieties of shrimps. A little "street chase" observed so far between the 2, guessed they are both males.

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## jljx

Seems like 3 months after I posted my concern... it has come to past that the fish IS being threatened... sigh... will start to breed the 10 I have.

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## Quixotic

Great, do share with us the experience. I will try to get something going myself as soon as I can sort out some things.

From what I have read elsewhere, it isn't confirmed exactly how they spawn. Some reported successful spawning uses Java moss and/or spawning mops. Cool, alkaline (or close to it) water supposedly triggers the spawning.

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## Fei Miao

The thread by the same title at Petfrd.com reports a successful spawn, perhaps we can learn from there and compile a list of the parameters... :Smile: 

http://www.petfrd.com/forum/showthre...&page=28&pp=15

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## StanChung

Friend in Bukit Mertajam has successfully spawned it in soft acidic water! http://www.my-mac.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1786

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## Quixotic

> The thread by the same title at Petfrd.com reports a successful spawn, perhaps we can learn from there and compile a list of the parameters...
> 
> http://www.petfrd.com/forum/showthre...&page=28&pp=15


There are more than one successful reported spawns. So it's good news. Been meaning to share some of the reported parameters here, but haven't found time yet.  :Razz: 




> Friend in Bukit Mertajam has successfully spawned it in soft acidic water! http://www.my-mac.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1786


Lim right? It's actually in the same thread that Ken posted. I am puzzled by the water parameters, which was contrary to what I have read around. I think he shared some more information in there. Will need to re-read and go through them.

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## mickthefish

hi all

ive also been reading the posts on petfrd, from what ive read they are being spawned in a variety of different water parameters.

the first to breed them are two mates of mine, theirs were bred in soft water conditions i'm also using soft water and getting good results.

a few europeans are doing them in hard water and still getting the same results.

i think that anyone wanting to try to breed them decide for yourselves, as they are being bred in both parameters i can't see anyone going wrong.

cheers
mick

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## StanChung

Galaxy seems to be a trooper.

Quixotic, yes it's Lim.

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## charlessito

My galaxies spawned a few times. Saw a few mini galaxies. Minutes later the adult ate the babies.  :Evil:  How do I save the babies?

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## mickthefish

hi charlessito
due to the nature and breeding of this fish, a few of us have come up with a reason why the fry come out into open water in the upper regions of the tank, studying the parents they always stay in the lower part of the tank also they keep very close to heavily planted areas, so if the fry stay in the upper region they are fairly safe.
as to you saving some fry, if you have a nano tank spare set it up and as you see some fry scoop them out and raise them in the nano.

hope this helps

cheers
mick

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## charlessito

thanks mick,will try that

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## budak

The fish has now been named and described: see http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/news/index.ph...tial_danio.txt

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## Jungle-mania

Sad, real sad to find that in our quest for aquatic vanity, we going to wipe a new species of fish we just knew.

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## StanChung

Good info , 
It's now Celestial Pearl Danio -_Celestichthys margaritatus_. :Smile:

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## budak

Article on the fish in National Geographic online: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...-new-fish.html

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## hwchoy

and to think that a major driving force of the craze was the superb macro photography done on the fish by Kamphol, the guy who contributed the photographs in the description papers.

power!

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## benny

So...aquatic photography can be a double edge sword.... shame...

Cheers,

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## sheng

"When there is a demand, the killing will go on"

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## hwchoy

Still it was better to be discovered and known, now it has a name so actions CAN happen. There several more endemic species living sympatrically which would have simply disappeared when their habitat is developed.

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## Quixotic

> There several more endemic species living sympatrically which would have simply disappeared when their habitat is developed.


Waiting for the _Yunnanilus_ sp. paper, I presume someone is looking into that.

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## hwchoy

I haven't heard of it yet. not pretty enough fish.  :Smile:

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## Quixotic

Aiyo, why like that... waiting so long in my tank for me to get to know them leh...  :Sad:

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## kyrie26

Edit: I have moved your posts to the Aquatalk section since the posts look as if to just promote the website.

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## soulfinder78

A normal healthy galaxy do they swim with it's body slightly humpy and tail close? or should the body be straight and taill wide open into a fan shape?

cause today i saw some at y628 the body looks humpy and tail close so i dare not buy.

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## Nannostomuss

i m quite a fan of galaxy. Y618 arent the only aquarium selling galaxies that have the same issue. Some galaxies that are on sale at c328 and yunfeng do have the same problem and chose a couple from C328. After conditioning for 2 days they are back to normal. So in my opinion, its quite natural for newly arrived galaxies in aquariums

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## valice

Seems like this fish is under going another genus change.

*Article from PFK:*
Scientists have suggested changing the scientific name of the Celestial Pearl danio to _Danio margaritatus_, after further study suggested it did not warrant a genus of its own, writes Matt Clarke. 

The Celestial Pearl danio, was named _Celestichthys margaritatus_ by taxonomist Tyson Roberts in February 2007, just seven months after it was first discovered in a remote wetland area of Myanmar. 

Roberts claimed that the species, which was initially sold in the trade under the name _Microrasbora_ sp. "Galaxy", was so different to other members of the _Danio_ genus that it warranted a genus of its own, so Roberts erected the _Celestichthys_ genus for the new fish. 

However, research published today by Kevin Conway, Wei-Jen Chen and Professor Richard Mayden of Saint Louis University provides evidence to suggest that Roberts' original description contained some inaccuracies. 

The scientists believe that the tiny fish would actually be better placed in the _Danio_ genus and not in _Celestichthys_:

"Though accepting a broader concept of _Celestichthys_ (including _D. erythromicron_) as the sister group to _Danio_ could be considered a feasible option, we feel that this approach would only unnecessarily inflate the number of generic names within Cyprinidae. 

"We therefore place _Celestichthys_ in the synonymy of _Danio_," the authors said.

*Bones and DNA*

Conway, Chen and Mayden undertook a detailed analysis of the bones of _C. margaritatus_ - something absent from Roberts' original description of the fish - and compared its bone structures to those of a number of related fishes. 

They also performed an additional molecular study, based on the RAG1 gene, and studied its presence in 31 rasborine fishes, including five species of _Danio_, in order to determine the phylogenetic position of Celestichthys alongside its relatives. 

The combined results provide strong evidence to suggest that _C. margaritatus_ is a close relative of _Danio erythromicron_. 

This similarity is something that aquarists stated when the species was first introduced, and something Roberts also mentioned in his description. 

The results also placed _Celestichthys_ and _Danio erythromicron_ as a sister group to _Danio_, where they all appear to be of monophyletic origin, suggesting that they evolved from a single common ancestor. 

*Placement in Danio*

As part of the study, the authors also redescribed the colour pattern of the fish using the _Danio_ colour pattern terminology created by the taxonomist Fang, which now makes it simpler to compare its markings with those other so-called danionin fishes. 

Fang's 2003 study of the _Danio_ genus, which restricted the use of the name to only those _Danio_ species previously in the _Danio dangila_ species group, defined two characters that fish had to possess in order to be considered members of the genus. 

The two features, known as apomorphic character states, were the presence of an "A stripe" on the anal fin rays (a dark stripe which extends along the middle of the rays to the tip of the last branched anal fin rays), and the presence of two or more pigmented stripes on the tail fin. 

The authors state that no other genus of fish in south or south east Asia, apart from _Danio_, has these features and only one fish considered to be a _Danio_, _D. erythromicron_, lacks both traits. 

They say that _C. margaritatus_ possesses both an "A stripe" and has two pigment stripes on the caudal fin, characters which suggest it is actually a _Danio_, and not a member of another genus, as suggested by Roberts. 

For more information see the paper: Conway KW, Chen W-J and RL Mayden (200 :Cool:  - The "Celestial pearldanio" is a miniature Danio (s.s) (Ostariophysi: Cyprinidae): evidence from morphology and molecules. Zootaxa.

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## hwchoy

Its being reassigned it to the genus _Danio_. So depending on your views, the fish that was “_Celestichthys margaritatus_ Roberts, 2007” will now be known as “_Danio margaritatus_ (Roberts, 2007)”.

here is the paper, decide for yourself  :Grin:  http://wjchen.actinops.googlepages.c...yetal.2008.pdf

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