# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Cyprinids >  Boraras urophthalmoides aka "Exclamation-Point" Rasbora

## Nicky

Can anyone show/tell me the diff between this subject-matter-fish and brigattae?

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## hwchoy

> ----------------
> On 12/4/2003 6:28:57 PM 
> 
> While we are at it, can anyone show/tell me the diff betw this subject-matter-fish and brigattae?
> ----------------


_Boraras brigittae_

 

_Boraras urophthalmoides_

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## Nicky

Now I'm really confused. 

I mentioned once before that in 
Book-1 of Baensch Aquarium Atlas, Pg 440, there was this fish with
Name = Boraras brigittae, 
Syn = Rasbora urophthalma brigittae, 
Hab = Indo, Sumatra.

Book-3 of Baensch Aquarium Atlas, Pg 262, there was this fish with 
Name = Boraras brigittae, Mosquito rasbora, 
Syn = Rasbora brigittae, 
Hab = Southern Borneo around Banjarmasin.

So is 'urophthalmoides' the same word as 'urophthalma'?

The fish in my tank is definitely the same as the one shown by Choy as 'brigittae' and so is the one in Peter Chua's small tank. So how come those people I think are really damned good in fish recognition, think the fish I saw at Peter Chua's tank is urophthalmoides?? BTW, both Peter and I got the fish from the same source, coincidently.

And if I'm not wrong, the one show by Choy as 'brigittae' is a male specimen because I got a paler-colored one (in addition to the one shown with strong coloration).


If there are in fact 2 sub-species of Brigittae, then perhaps my personal theory is right and that is there are in fact 2 sub-species of Boraras maculatus; one with big dots and the other with small dots.

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## hwchoy

nicky, you have asked the right person  :Razz:  

Peter's tank does not have _B. brigittae_, what he has are _B. urophthalmoides_, which for some reason has shown strong reddish coloration after living there for a while. when they were bought they look exactly like the one in my second pair of pics. How do I know? Because I bought it for him from TB Ben, and which he later went back to get more.

urophthalmoides and brigittae can be differentiated by the body shape (brigittae is longer and slimmer) and also the red coloration that extends into the dorsal and ventral fins.

The Boraras genus is distributed throughout mainland southeast asia and maritime southeast asia (Sunda). Both maculatus, brigittae and merah are found in the Sunda region, i.e. peninsula malaya, Singapore and the Riau islands, Borneo and probably Sumatra. urophthalmoides and micros are found in the indo-china region i.e. thailand, cambodia and vietnam.

All three species from the Sunda region are long and slim, while the two from Indo-china are shorter and broader. Perhaps coincidence, perhaps genetics through common ancestors. When Sunda was dry land, all the maritime southeast asian landmasses are connected and is one big rain forest, and all these lands separated by seas today are once connected by ancient river systems, just like the Amazon.

The type locality of urophthalmoides, incidentally, is in southern peninsula Thailand, in a coastal swamp near the town of Narathiwat, where the terrorist chief Habali was caught.

BTW if you check fishbase, watch out for the pictures, they are not accurate. I just look up the _B. brigittae_ entry, and it is showing my brigittae pic, and someone else's urophthalmoides pic.  :Evil:  however their other information is accurate in terms of name validity, authority and citation, and hence type locality.

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## hwchoy

BTW, brigittae's type locality is bandjar masin in Kalimantan, but can be found throughout the Sunda islands including Pulau Bintan. so far I have not notice much morphological differences amongst the various batches of brigittae brought in by the LFS. As for subspecies, it is a very fine line when you split a subspecies and is very undefinitive.

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## andrephua

hey there

thanks for the clarification
i got myself two li'l brigittae from polyart today...  :Wink: 
they have quite alot of stock still, so anyone wants to get them, do pay polyart a visit




> nicky, you have asked the right person  
> 
> Peter's tank does not have _B. brigittae_, what he has are _B. urophthalmoides_, which for some reason has shown strong reddish coloration after living there for a while. when they were bought they look exactly like the one in my second pair of pics. How do I know? Because I bought it for him from TB Ben, and which he later went back to get more.
> 
> urophthalmoides and brigittae can be differentiated by the body shape (brigittae is longer and slimmer) and also the red coloration that extends into the dorsal and ventral fins.
> 
> The Boraras genus is distributed throughout mainland southeast asia and maritime southeast asia (Sunda). Both maculatus, brigittae and merah are found in the Sunda region, i.e. peninsula malaya, Singapore and the Riau islands, Borneo and probably Sumatra. urophthalmoides and micros are found in the indo-china region i.e. thailand, cambodia and vietnam.
> 
> All three species from the Sunda region are long and slim, while the two from Indo-china are shorter and broader. Perhaps coincidence, perhaps genetics through common ancestors. When Sunda was dry land, all the maritime southeast asian landmasses are connected and is one big rain forest, and all these lands separated by seas today are once connected by ancient river systems, just like the Amazon.
> ...

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## neon

> i got myself two li'l brigittae from polyart today... 
> they have quite alot of stock still, so anyone wants to get them, do pay polyart a visit


Don't mind , brother, PM me the price ! Thanks !

Cheers

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## sfk7

Been trying to locate this fish Urophthalmoides) at LFS. Found them but they seems to be in unhealthy condition?

They looked dull in color, almost grey and don't have the usual sheen as shown in pictures but active in the tank.

Is this condition recoverable? Don't want to spend money to bring back sick fish.

Thanks for any help.

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