Dracula fish

Danionella dracula is a species of fish in the carp family (Cyprinidae ). The species was described in 2009. The specific epithet dracula indicates significantly increased eckzahnartige excesses of the jaw bone of animals.

Features

The body of Danionella dracula is scaleless and elongated, laterally flattened with nearly circular cross-section of the abdomen and behind the anal fin. The animals are largely colorless and translucent and have along the edges only in five rows of melanocytes dark pigments, as well as a yellowish line along the neural tube. The pigmented front and rear swim bladders are visible through gaps in the core muscles. The lateral line has no channels or pores. The dorsal fin is short and is on the back half of the elongated anal fin. The caudal fin is sitting at a long caudal peduncle and is forked. Anus and genitals sit in the male very prominent, the female directly in front of the anal fin. The total length is a maximum of about 17 millimeters.

The large head has large eyes and well-developed nostrils. The mouth is inferior, the jaws are significantly enlarged in the males and therefore greatly above.

Of the other species of the genus is Danionella dracula differs by:

• Only one instead of two bones in the upper jaw,
• A single row of teeth in upper and lower jaws, each with 6 to 13 teeth-like outgrowths, of which the foremost greatly enlarged and are formed Eckzahnartig and significantly protrude from the mouth,
• The lack of jaw cartilage,
• The lower number of fin rays.

The type also has a reduced skeleton bone 44 has less than that of the closely related zebrafish (Danio rerio).

Occurrence and life

The species is known only from a small river near Sha You Zup in northern Myanmar. About their life nothing is known. Molecular biological studies indicate that the species has split off from the rest of the genus around 30 million years ago. Captive animals have a life span of about one year.

Swell

• Ralf Britz, Kevin W Conway, Luke Rüber: Spectacular morphological novelty in a miniature cyprinid fish, Danionella dracula n sp .. In: Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 2009, doi: 10.1098/rspb.2009.0141 (full text).