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:::It appears both the article and fishbase are missing a substantial number of genera. If you want to update the list you'll have to use ITIS. And as for distinguishing it, its like any other fish in the same genera, there are only small features that allow identification between species. In this case, there are a couple of other boxfish in the area but they tend to have eye 'horns' and spiky dorsal protrusions ie they are not 'smooth'. There is also a western smooth boxfish to add to the fun, but it is primarily a WA species. [[User:Kare Kare|Kare Kare]] 01:16, 25 October 2007 (UTC) |
:::It appears both the article and fishbase are missing a substantial number of genera. If you want to update the list you'll have to use ITIS. And as for distinguishing it, its like any other fish in the same genera, there are only small features that allow identification between species. In this case, there are a couple of other boxfish in the area but they tend to have eye 'horns' and spiky dorsal protrusions ie they are not 'smooth'. There is also a western smooth boxfish to add to the fun, but it is primarily a WA species. [[User:Kare Kare|Kare Kare]] 01:16, 25 October 2007 (UTC) |
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::::I don't know. It doesn't look like an [http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=14559 Eastern smooth boxfish] to me. Although the specimen |
::::I don't know. It doesn't look like an [http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=14559 Eastern smooth boxfish] to me. Although the specimen you found looks dried out so maybe it's lost some of it's pigmentation. [[User:Jnpet|Jnpet]] 01:45, 25 October 2007 (UTC) |
Revision as of 01:53, 25 October 2007
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Taxonomic status of Limia
doi:10.1006/mpev.1998.0600 suggests that it is not any more distant from Poecilia than are guppies, and strongly supports monophyly of Poecilia sensu lato. So, what to do? The references is from the "late stone age" of molecular systematics, and I don't know whether it's reliable. It looks fairly good for its age though, and a Scopus check does not show any updates to the 1999 study except doi:10.1006/mpev.2000.0919 which does only concern itself with Limia internal phylogeny, and Poeser's 2003 paper, of which I can only access the abstract and which does not seem to be terribly relevant or contradict the 1999 study.
If I shall revise the group, drop me a msg on my talk page. It would - for the time being - mean reassigning Limia to Poecilia for the sake of consistency, as the content of the lineages is not finally established. The limia page will be kept separate however and it will all be explained in the articles' text: it's highly probable that the eventual outcome will be a split of Poecilia (+ Limia) into 6.
Yes I know FishBase considers Limia distinct. But FishBase is simply wrong here; their "Poecilia" is paraphyletic with regards to Limia, Micropoecilia (=Lebistes as far as anyone can tell - perhaps a subgenus, perhaps not even that!) and (non-monophyletic) Pamphorichthys. Dysmorodrepanis 08:51, 10 July 2007 (UTC)
- OK, I'm going to offer what I hope is an expert opinion here, though I admit my PhD is in morphological cladistics rather than molecular phylogeny. A genus is forever. Whether or not one person sinks it into another doesn't really matter. The genus itself always deserves an article. Within that article there is scope to describe its usage. So you could say something along the lines of "According to Smith (2005) Limia is paraphyletic and the species assigned to it are best referred to Poecilia pending further analysis, while Jones (2006) maintains that that Limia is a distinctive clade characterised by distinct morphology including the presence of the such-and-such bone in the skull". It is very, VERY important for amateurs outside the field of taxonomy to understand that taxonomy isn't static, and that giving names to taxa isn't like naming a steam train or cataloguing stamps. Nothing above species level "means" anything in Nature, it's all just housekeeping, and sometimes it is revealed that the way things are arranged now isn't as good as it could be. The science of taxonomy is all about moving things about from group to group to better understand relationships. But it isn't "real" and each Limia species doesn't swim about thinking, "Hey, it's so cool I'm a Limia and so different to those plebian Poecilia types". So, go back to the Limia article and simply explain the debate and cite the relevant papers. We've had a similar situation with Maylandia versus Metriaclima and had to create and edit articles accordingly. There isn't a "correct" answer and both genus names are meaningful, even if one of them isn't currently used. Cheers, Neale Neale Monks 10:53, 10 July 2007 (UTC)
- Agree, except with "A genus is forever". If a genus cannot be distinguished based on consistent (and meaningful) characters from another, it's a junior synonym. This is not entirely the case here; what I can make of the data is that Limia might well be still valid, but that apparently not all limias are indeed limias. So 2 alternatives exist: a) it's a junior synonym of the definitely monophyletic Poecilia (meaning that the characters "defining" Limia are meaningless because they are a product of convergent evolution), or b) it isn't but what precisely belongs into it is not as of present known with certainty. I have refrained from major changes on both pages, because I feel that these are warranted but would be more extensive than I'm willing to do (it would encompass a lot of changes on the family pages etc). It's basically a matter for this project to decide. You folks ought to check out the paper and then change it or drop me a note; I could whip up a short blurb to tell readers what's going on here in no time.
- The main problem is actually the genus list on Poeciliidae, namely Pamphorichthys and Micropoecilia. Especially the latter. What to do? Maybe Limia could be struck from the family page; in that case Poecilia would need to be listed with an addition like:
- (supergenus: includes limias, mollies, guppies, etc).
- That would be the easiest way to achieve consistency, because nobody seems really to know what to make of the group With Poecilia sensu lato we have a definite cutoff point; further differentiation at genus level seems desirable, but also seems to require more research. In such a case, the limia article could be left essentially unchanged, with a note that the group seems to be a distinct genus but its delimitation is uncertain, or that it could be lumped into Poecilia if the latter is entirely unresolveable. Poecilia on the other hand would need to be changed more profoundly, i.e. including the micropoecilias, the Pamphorichthys etc, and mention the limias, with discussion of each of these.
- Unfortunately, hybridization has played fast and loose with characters morphological and mtDNA alike in these guys, so all that can be said is that if the limias are considered distinct, the guppies and micropoecilias, and others, probably would need to be split too. How exactly? Impossible to tell at this time. Dysmorodrepanis 08:56, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
fish-stub subtypes proposed
It's nothing much to look at right now, but I've started a proposal to create a number of additional stub types corresponding to various fish taxons, to help deal with the huge number of articles in Category:Cichlidae stubs. More details to follow when I've bashed some numbers into place. Alai 07:40, 6 August 2007 (UTC)
Animals project proposal
I think it's both a pity and somewhat illogical that we have no animal WikiProject despite the fact that there are over 20 projects that are basically its daughters. There are also other projects that could emerge from it in the future, such as one on animal behavior. The project would provide a central place for people from all animal projects to talk, a central set of guidelines for articles on animals and zoology, and an assessment system for articles related to animals. If you are interested in creating such a project please visit Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Tree of life#Animals project to discuss. Richard001 08:52, 8 August 2007 (UTC)
The following projects would come under the parentage of this project:
- WikiProject Amphibians and Reptiles
- WikiProject Arthropods
- WikiProject Birds
- WikiProject Cephalopods
- WikiProject Fishes
- WikiProject Gastropods
- WikiProject Mammals
- Wikipedia:WikiProject Animal rights
The only latin name for this fish I've been able to find is salmo gairdneri beardleei, but it seems it should have an Oncorynchus name, being a subspecies of Rainbow trout. Anyone got any newer info than I'm finding? Murderbike 22:00, 8 August 2007 (UTC)
- According to FishBase, this scientific name is a synonym of Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus. See here. MiltonT 04:17, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
- Definitely Oncorhynchus something; the "Pacific" salmons & trouts have been moved out of Salmo for some time. mykiss I'm not so sure but from which source List of species native to Washington lists it as cutthroat trout subspecies I'm not sure either (cutthroat and rainbow are not 100% precisely delimited in the literature, so it's not astounding that there is uncertainty). In any case, I think more current information lacking, we should go with FishBase as usual, and I have edited the articke (+ taxobox) to that effect.
- Some sources use clarkii instead of clarki for the Cutthroat. This needs to be checked out. Dysmorodrepanis 08:28, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
Feature article candidate: Halfbeak
We already have Good Article status for this, but there's a whole bunch of mostly technical rather than content changes that need to be done for Feature status. Formatting references for example. You can see the discussion here. If anyone wants to help out, that would be much appreciated. Even if you can't make these changes, adding positive comments to the review would be appreciated. Thanks! Neale Neale Monks 10:18, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
- Thanks to massive amounts of work from MiltonT, this article is really looking good now. Please please please stop by, edit if you want, and then leave your thoughts on its FA Discussion pages. It's really only grammatical stuff people are commenting on, so the more people who read and tweak, the better. Cheers, Neale Neale Monks 11:56, 12 August 2007 (UTC)
I think this list is just about a featured list candidate. Any suggestions/improvements would be appreciated. Abbott75 ☺ 10:54, 10 August 2007 (UTC)
Flying fish?
What do you think this fish is? http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-760820435866344019&q=fish&total=102863&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0 Bewareofdog 02:39, 15 August 2007 (UTC)
Seahorse image nominated as a featured picture
An image of a seahorse has been nominated as a featured picture candidate, and I think some ichthyological info would help the image types out. If anyone knows about seahorses, dried or skeletal, their input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Enuja 01:07, 16 August 2007 (UTC)
- Done, and supported with comments. Cheers, Neale Neale Monks 15:31, 16 August 2007 (UTC)
Sand whiting nominated for GA
I have nominated Sand whiting for GA status; if anyone could check the article out and review it that would be great. Also, if anyone has any idea where i can find free images (apart from flickr) for the species that would be great. Cheers Kare Kare 04:04, 25 August 2007 (UTC)
- GA passed Kare Kare 02:14, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
Trinomial authorities
Is there an easy online way to find these? Murderbike 05:27, 31 August 2007 (UTC)
Category:Wikipedia requested photographs of fish and Category:Wikipedia requested photographs of fishes
I notice there are two categories. Should they not be merged? And can one of the members here please archive the page? The length is ridiculous. Richard001 09:06, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
- Done archiving, was about time! --Stefan talk 00:52, 2 September 2007 (UTC)
- As for cats, yes they should be merged, but not sure which to which, I have asked User:Twp if it matters to User:PhotoCatBot and will try to merge accordingly. --Stefan talk 01:10, 2 September 2007 (UTC)
- I apologize for adding the second category; I had not noticed that Category:Wikipedia requested photographs of fishes already existed. I am fine with merging either category to the other, and will adjust PhotoCatBot as necessary to conform with the consensus of the WikiProject Fishes community. Tim Pierce 01:20, 4 September 2007 (UTC)
- We should have standards for how to name these categories ... but I guess that is impossible to do in wikipedia today, anyway then I suggest to merge the new category into the old, i.e. Category:Wikipedia requested photographs of fish to be merged into Category:Wikipedia requested photographs of fishes. I will do that unless anyone protests. --Stefan talk 06:41, 5 September 2007 (UTC)
- I've updated the bot to put articles in Category:Wikipedia requested photographs of fishes. I also suggest just redirecting the "fish" category to "fishes" -- no need to bother with the deletion process. Tim Pierce 14:46, 6 September 2007 (UTC)
Category:Lamprologini stubs: sanity-check, and defining article, please?
I'm trying to sort out the still-oversized Category:Cichlidae stubs; could someone first, confirm that Lamprologini is a "sensible" taxon (tribe), and secondly, if at all possible, write a reasonable-ish stub to define it? It'd look very silly if I end up creating a stub template with a redlinked scoping statement... Alai 06:12, 2 September 2007 (UTC)
"catfish stubs" renaming
Over at SFD, I've proposed renaming Category:Catfish stubs to be more in line with the permanent category Category:Siluriformes. I realize I could be rushing in where angels fear to tread on the "common names" issue, but I'd just like consistency one way or the other. (I'd be equally happy with renaming Category:Siluriformes to Category:Catfish.) Alai 19:00, 2 September 2007 (UTC)
Horseface loach
Horseface loach has not been bred in captivity? can an expert confirm? Rich Farmbrough, 20:17 7 September 2007 (GMT).
- I'd need to do some further reading, but it's almost certainly true. Very few of the loaches have bred in captivity for reasons as yet unclear. Clown loaches are commercially spawned (as I understand it) using hormones, where their value justifies the expense. But horseface loaches don't have the same value, so this isn't likely to be done in this case. Cheers, Neale Neale Monks 08:10, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
Hyneria
Do you like this drawing? Or is it 'too kiddy'? http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a386/AnimalFans/hyneria.png --HoopoeBaijiKite 23:30, 13 September 2007 (UTC)
- Personally... no. It looks like it was done in 5 minutes in Microsoft Paint. Nice teeth though... looks like Godzilla. Personally, i find sketching on paper and scanning these hand drawn images into a photoshop type program for further clean up is the way to go to get anatomically correct sketches. Also note that you can't copyright the images if they are to be uploaded to the commons. Cheers Kare Kare 14:40, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
- I could try fixing it. ;) --HoopoeBaijiKite 21:17, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
- Sure, but try to keep your illustrations as anatomically correct as possible. If you have a scanner, i would suggest doing as i stated above, but scrap that first image... generally drawing things on a computer gives very poor quality unless you are using top notch programs and are really experienced. We never seem to be overloaded with fish images so anything you contribute helps. Kare Kare 01:57, 15 September 2007 (UTC)
Requesting comments on merge
Requesting wider input on proposed merge of related articles cleaner fish, (with) cleaner shrimp and(/or) cleaner station. Richard001 10:06, 26 September 2007 (UTC)
If someone could take a look at this article, it needs SERIOUS help. Murderbike 19:01, 30 September 2007 (UTC)
Sea Robin Images
Not sure if you have a use for these, but I've uploaded a few to Commons. I'm not sure which type of Sea Robin it is, it was caught in New Haven, CT.
I've uploaded a few other weird angle shots to Flickr under CC-BY-SA. My userID is the same there as it is here.. --Versageek 00:33, 3 October 2007 (UTC)
New user needing a mentor, contribs needing work
There is a new user with a definite interest in fish articles. They need a mentor on how to create a good Wikipedia article. (I suspect copyright violation issues in their work, and it is all completely unwikified.) The new user is User:Aquaticspeciesatrisk. Given the topical interest, can someone from this project help bring them onboard? GRBerry 18:12, 10 October 2007 (UTC)
category defaultsort
I was about to do a category defaultsort on some fish articles, but thought I'd better ask here first. Would it be OK to do this? it would mean entering (for example)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Halibut, Greenland}}
Making the Greenland halibut under H rather than G, so that all the halibut are easier to find on the category page. This is of course the way it should be done for biographical articles - but why not for biology articles? Opinions please. Totnesmartin 11:56, 22 October 2007 (UTC)
- Lets think this through. We have multiple cases, depending on category type (taxonomic category or not) and article naming style (common or scientific name). In this comment I'll use "SN" for "scientific name" and "CN" for common name. Here is what I propose:
- Taxonomic category (e.g. Category:Acipenseriformes) - I'd think all articles should be listed under the SN, and if the article is at the CN then also the CN with the SN added. SN articles and redirects get categorized as is. CN get categorized as CN (SN). If a CN article doesn't already have SN redirect, create the redirect (which we should have anyway) and categorize the redirect.
- Taxonomic category (e.g. Category:Cichlidae), articles with sub-articles. Sub-articles that are scientific topics (consensus judgment call) get listed in the taxonmoic category, those that aren't don't. If listed, they get categorized as the primary article and the differentiating term So Tilapiine cichlid would be sorted as "Tilapiini" (SN, from the redirect) and "Tilapine chichlid (Tilapiini)" (CN). Tilapia would then be sorted as "Tilapia (Tilapiini)". Tilapia in aquaculture I'd judge not appropriate for the category, and omit. Tilapia as exotic species I'd judge as appropriate and include as "Tilapia (Tilapiini) as exotic species"
- Non-taxonomic category (e.g. Category:Edible fish), CNs denote a real relationship - Categorize by common name of the group, then individual common name and possibly derivative common name. Also show the SN. Almost all Mackerel are of the Family Scombridae. So list in the category "Mackerel, Streaked Spanish (Scomberomorus lineolatus)", "Mackerel, King (Scomberomorus cavalla)", and "Mackerel, King, Indo-Pacific (Scomberomorus guttatus)".
- Non-taxonomic category (e.g. Category:Edible fish), CNs don't indicate a real relationship - Categorize by CN, show SN, ignore the common feature of the common name. "Whiting" has been used in different countries to refer to several different kinds of edible fish with white meat. Thus, instead of including "Merlangius merlangus" in the category, it should be listed as either "English Whiting (Merlangius merlangus)" or as "Whiting ((Merlangius merlangus)". Similarly, another entry would be "Sand whiting (Sillago ciliata)". We would not want to sort these two as both being Whiting, as Whiting is not a real relationship name, and these two species are of the same Class, but different Orders and Families.
- Non-taxonomic category (e.g. Category:Edible fish), article and sub-article - Categorize as the primary article and the differentiating term. So Tilapia gets some sorting, then Tilapia in aquaculture gets the same sorting with "in aquaculture" added on the end.
- But, having said this much, I also think that this is a question better posed to Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Tree of life as it would be best to have a common convention for all the different kinds of biota. Can we move the question there? GRBerry 14:06, 22 October 2007 (UTC)
- I agree with posing the question at TOL, as it applies to birds as well - the question occurred to because i was populating a category about a habitat (Category:British Isles coastal fauna). See you there. Totnesmartin 14:33, 22 October 2007 (UTC)
Southern black bream up for GA
I've nominated Southern black bream for GA, so if someone wants to check it out or review it that would be great. It should pass no problem, as it is comprehensive, well referenced and has had a couple of copyedits during its time as a DYK on the main page. Kare Kare 08:00, 23 October 2007 (UTC)
Identify fish?
Is anyone able to identify this fish for me? I found it washed up on Broughton Island, near Newcastle, NSW, Australia. --liquidGhoul 12:49, 24 October 2007 (UTC)
- I think it's "clearly" the "invisible" fish. Seriously, do you have a pic or something? It's gonna be hard to do by remote viewing... — Dave (Talk | contribs) 13:05, 24 October 2007 (UTC)
- Haha, you got me. Woops. Here it is.
- http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1727535735&size=l
- Thanks --liquidGhoul 13:31, 24 October 2007 (UTC)
- My guess is the "Eastern smooth boxfish". Here's an image of a dried-out specimen found on a beach in NSW. [1] — Dave (Talk | contribs) 13:40, 24 October 2007 (UTC)
- So, now, who is going to create the article on the "Eastern smooth boxfish"? (And why isn't the species mentioned in the article boxfish?) For this questioner, how do we distinguish the Eastern smooth from other boxfish? Do others live in the area? GRBerry 14:38, 24 October 2007 (UTC)
- It appears both the article and fishbase are missing a substantial number of genera. If you want to update the list you'll have to use ITIS. And as for distinguishing it, its like any other fish in the same genera, there are only small features that allow identification between species. In this case, there are a couple of other boxfish in the area but they tend to have eye 'horns' and spiky dorsal protrusions ie they are not 'smooth'. There is also a western smooth boxfish to add to the fun, but it is primarily a WA species. Kare Kare 01:16, 25 October 2007 (UTC)
- I don't know. It doesn't look like an Eastern smooth boxfish to me. Although the specimen you found looks dried out so maybe it's lost some of it's pigmentation. Jnpet 01:45, 25 October 2007 (UTC)