Nothobranchius sylvaticus

Nothobranchius sylvaticus Nagy, Bellstedt & Luke, 2025

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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Cyprinodontiformes (Rivulines, killifishes and live bearers) > Nothobranchiidae (African rivulines)
Etymology: Nothobranchius: Greek, nothos = false + Greek, brangchia = gill (Ref. 45335); sylvaticus: Name 'sylvaticus from the Latin participial adjective formed from ‘sylva’ (forest), and ‘-aticus’ (pertaining to), in reference to the distinctive habitat preference of the species, restricted to ephemeral pools and seeps associated with seasonal forest-streams.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Freshwater; benthopelagic. Tropical

Distribution Territories | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Africa: Kenya.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 3.4 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 138025)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal soft rays (total): 14 - 15; Anal soft rays: 13 - 15. This species is distinguished from its congeners by the following set of characters: scales on trunk iridescent light blue covering the entire caudal peduncle; dorsal portion of head grey with distinct red lobes along supraorbital canal; posterior scale margins on postorbital portion of opercle creating two pronounced brown-red oblique bars; dorsal and anal fins golden, marked with dark grey dots and stripes proximally and medially, merging into uniform dark grey zone distally; dark red to red colouration of the proximal side of the caudal fin, plain red medially, and with slender black distal band; and colouration of the brown-red scale margins, a series of morphometric and meristic differences, and in the structure of the cephalic sensory system (Ref. 138025)
Body shape (shape guide): elongated; Cross section: compressed.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Bellstedt, D.U., B. Nagy, P.D.W. Van der Merwe, F.P.D. Cotterill, Q. Luke and B.R. Watters, 2025. The description of a critically endangered new species of seasonal killifish, Nothobranchius sylvaticus (Cyprinodontiformes: Nothobranchiidae), a relict species from an East African forest refugium in south-eastern Kenya. Zootaxa 5601(1):086-108. (Ref. 138025)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-2)

  Critically Endangered (CR) (B1ab(iii)+2ab(iii)); Date assessed: 11 April 2025

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: of no interest
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items (preys)
Diet composition
Food consumption
Food rations
Predators
Ecology
Ecology
Population dynamics
Growth parameters
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversion
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Abundance
Life cycle
Reproduction
Maturity
Maturity/Gills rel.
Fecundity
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Eggs
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Anatomy
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Stamps, coins, misc.
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Taxonomy
Common names
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References
References

Tools

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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | OneZoom | Open Tree of Life | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | TreeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search |