THE NOTHOBRANCHIUS SITE

MRAC 77-16-P-19, holotype, male, 33.7 mm SL; Tanzania: pool along the main road from Morogoro to Dar-es-Salaam between the bridge over the Ruvu and Kwaraza village, approx. 06°41.9' S, 38°42.3' E; collected by J. Lourens, Jul 1976, [field code T 76-8].

MRAC 77-16-P-20 (1), MRAC 77-16-P-21-23 (3)

Nothobranchius janpapi is characterized by its rearward positioned dorsal fin; rectangular shaped anal fin with yellow at the base, grading outwards into orange-red; dorsal and caudal fins with red dots on a green near base and grading to blue distally.

Subgenus: Aphyobranchius

Species group: N. janpapi group

Nothobranchius janpapi was established as a species by Wildekamp in 1977, and that status has been accorded by all authors since.

"Tümpel entlang der Hauptstraße Morogoro-Dar es Salaam, zwischen der Brücke über den Ruvu und Kwaraza, Tansania."

Pool along the main road from Morogoro to Dar-es-Salaam between the bridge over the Ruvu and Kwaraza village, Tanzania.

approx. 06°41.9' S, 38°42.3' E, [same type locality as N. lourensi]

This species is endemic to seasonal freshwater habitats in coastal Tanzania. It is known from temporary pools, marshes and ditches in the drainage of the lower Ruvu, lower Rufiji, and lower Matandu river systems, as well as a number of smaller rivers draining into the Indian Ocean, in eastern Tanzania.

Coastal East Africa (564)

1–147 m

Personal observation at collecting sites (8 localities):

Water temperature: 27.7–32.8 °C

pH: 7.02–8.25 (average: 7.65)

TDS:  70–1130 ppm (average: 283)

Conductivity: 140–2260 µS (average: 565)

N. melanospilus - 90%

N. eggersi - 33%

N. annectens - 31%

N. ocellatus - 23%

N. foerschi - 6%

N. lourensi - 4%

N. fuscotaeniatus - 2%

N. flammicomantis - 2%

This species has a semi-annual life cycle.

Embryonic development under captive conditions in peat moss is about two to three months at room temperature.

Maximum size reported: 40.0 mm TL, 32.1 mm SL (MRAC 77-16-P-20-23, paratypes) 

Diploid chromosome number 2n = 38 (Scheel, 1981; Scheel, 1990); diploid chromosome number 2n = 37 for males and 2n = 38 for females, NF = 49 for males and 48 for females, and karyotype structure 3m+9sm+25st/a​ for males and 2m+8sm+28st/a for females (Krysanov & Demidova, 2018).

Diploid chromosome number and karyotype structure unique in the genus.

The specific name is given in honor of Jan Pap, Dutch aquarist and development assistant in Tanzania, discoverer of this species.

Least Concern (Nagy & Watters, 2019);

Previous assessment: Least Concern (Hanssens & Snoeks, 2006)

​    Wildekamp, R. H. 1977. Nothobranchius lourensi sp. nov. und Nothobranchius janpapi sp. nov., zwei neue Rivulinen aus Ost Afrika. Das Aquarium, 11 (98): 326–331. [taxonomy as Nothobranchius janpapi]

    Nagy, B. & A. Horváth Kis. 2010. Variation in habitat characteristics and the occurrence of Nothobranchius species in seasonal biotopes of Tanzania. Journal of the American Killifish Association, 43 (5): 130–144. [ecology]

    Nagy, B. 2010. A la recherche de killis sur l’île de Pemba et dans la partie côtière de la Tanzanie. Killi Revue, Killi Club de France, 2010 (5): 3–11. [collecting]

    Nagy, B. 2015. Life history and reproduction of Nothobranchius fishes. Journal of the American Killifish Association, 47 (4–6): 182–192. [ecology]

    Nagy, B. & B. R. Watters. 2019. Nothobranchius janpapi. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: e.T60368A47185381. [conservation]

    Watters, B. R., B. Nagy, P. D. W. van der Merwe, F. P. D. Cotterill & D. U. Bellstedt. 2020. Redescription of the seasonal killifish species Nothobranchius ocellatus and description of a related new species Nothobranchius matanduensis, from eastern Tanzania (Teleostei: Nothobranchiidae). Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, IEF-1149, pp. 1–28. [phylogeny]