NEWS102
9
Brichard’sHummingbirdLampeye,male
Femalesof Brichard’sHummingbirdLampeyeare rather inconspicuously colored.
Typespecimensof
C.myersi
(above)and
C.
brichardi
(below). Drawings:R.Wildekamp
Almost20years later,in1971,Polldescribed
another very similar species, this time from
the central Congobasin ("Liyeke,brasmort
de la riv.Tshuapa, routeBoende-Watsi,2km
deBoende")as
Congopanchaxbrichardi
and
also placed
A.myersi
in the newly erected
genus
Congopanchax
. In
Congopanchax
brichardi
bothsexesgrow to just2cm long.
Unusually the original description of
C.
brichardi
doesn’thighlight themoststriking
difference between the two species:
specifically, the anal fin of
C.myersi
begins
very far forward, almost immediately
behind theventral fins,while theanal finof
C.brichardi
begins at about the samepoint
as the dorsal fin. Because of the only very
slight differences between
C.myersi
and
C.
brichardi
mentioned in the original
description, aquarists came to the
conclusion that the two species were
identical tooneanother.
Thenaturalhabitat
The precise distribution region for
Congopanchaxbrichardi
,forwhich I suggest
thepopularname“Brichard’sHummingbird
Lampeye”(
C.myersi
is sometimes knownas
the Hummingbird Lampeye), is at present
unknown. This tiny fish isn’t caught with
normal fishing equipment. It is known that
the species occurs in the central Congo
drainage includingtheshallowpartsofLake
Tumba. The lake is over-fished, and so
heavily that it is sometimes no longer
possible to earn a living by fishing, and
some former fishermenhavehadtogoover
to agriculture. According to the literature
the knownhabitats of
C.brichardi
are small
tributaries, streams, swamps, and bank
regionswithanabundantgrowthofaquatic
plants. The water there is very soft
(conductivity20-50µS, iebarely1°dGH),and
acid,with thepH lyingbetween4.5and5.5.
Lampeyesaregenerallyshoaling fishes,and
the shoals like to remain close to the
surface.
U. Schliewen (verb. comm.) has caught the
species in the shallow water of Lake Mai
Ndombe. The water there is extreme
blackwaterand thewater temperaturevery
high, around 30 °C. In his view the species
doesn’toccur insmall cool streams,as is the
case with the Butterfly Barb (
Barbus
hulstaerti
), but more in backwaters and
floatingmeadows of themajor blackwater
riversandeven inblackwater lakes.
