Mentaya

This species is also referred to by the vernacular name 'Malay combtail'. In terms of external characters it differs most obviously from its only congener, B. signata by its overal brownish grey (vs. reddish) body colouration and presence of a mosaic-type patterning in the unpaired fins (vs. absence). The position of relatedness of the genus Belontia with respect to other anabantoids remains somewhat...

This species lends its name to the Betta foerschi group of closely-related species within the genus, of which members share the following set of characters: possession of iridescent blue or green unpaired fins; rays and interradial membranes in unpaired fins not contrasting; dorsal fin with thin, bright white distal band; opercle with two, reddish-yellow, vertical bars. Members are regarded as being closely-related to bubble nesting Betta specie...

D. foerschi is sometimes traded as 'boomerang barb' or 'Foersch's fire barb' and is included in a group of closely-related, similar-looking fishes which were moved into the new genus Desmopuntius by Kottelat (2013). It can be told apart from other vertically-striped congeners by possession of additional dark blotches between the second, third and fourth vertical bars and a further marking at the posterior base o...

D. johorensis can be distinguished by the following combination of characters: 5-6 dark, lateral stripes on body in specimens larger than 40 mm; stripes immediately above and below the central stripe (stripes '+1' and '-1', respectively) located on scale rows +2 and -2, not touching dorsal and ventral midlines (except in some small specimens from Peninsular Malaysia); stripes broad, typically between 0.5-1 scale rows deep...

This species is one of three similar-looking members of the genus alongside D. johorensis and D. trifasciatus, while it may also be confused with Striuntius lineatus. Juveniles of all except S. lineatus exhibit a vertically-barred rather than laterally-striped colour pattern, the metamorphosis to adult patterning beginning at around 20 mm SL and normally being complete by 30-40 mm.

This species is traded under several names of which others include 'sharp-nosed gourami', 'moonlight chocolate gourami', 'black-lined chocolate gourami' and 'black-tailed chocolate gourami', though it's far from common in the hobby. Its unique colour pattern makes it difficult to confuse with any of the three other members of the genus even in the absence of meristic data.

This species is only occasionally seen in the hobby and sometimes sold as 'cherry chocolate gourami'. It was originally described as a subspecies of S. osphromenoides since the two are very similar-looking but has been considered a species in its own right since the late 1980s. The two differ in the number ofrays (7 in S. selatanensis vs. 9-10 in S. osphromenoides),rays (7 vs. 8),...