# Julidochromis marlieri or transcriptus "Gombe"?



## NLaferriere (Jan 15, 2015)

For starters, I'm not an ichthyologist. I have no credibility whatsoever in the scientific field. I'm simply a fish artist and I keep fish.

Julidochromis have always been one of my favourites to keep. Jul.marlieri was the first cichlid I ever bred and their behaviour and look, reminds me of saltwater wrasses. I've always loved their complex pair bonding and luckily I've always had great success.

I've kept several species of Julidochromis over the years and I lump them into three categories:
-Jul.marlieri/regani -largest of the julies growing up to 6inches
-Jul.transcriptus/ornatus -dwarf julies
-Jul.dickfeldi -oddity, not like the others

In the first line I mentioned I'm a fish artist for a reason. I'm highly detail oriented and I noticed something with the mouth structure between each of the species. The three groups above are separated not only by size but if you look closely, there's a big difference in the actual structure of the mouth. Illustrated below shows the mouth structure with the colour and patterning of the fish taken away as to not distract. As you can see, the mouth structures of J.regani and J.marlieri are quite different from that of the latter three species. The middle illustration is Gombe.










Julidochromis sp. "Gombe"

Julidochromis marlieri "Kala" (wild)

Julidochromis marlieri "Magara" (wild)

I added both Kala and Magara J.marlieri because Magara is above Gombe and Kala is below.

I've heard and read a lot about the markings under the eye in the Gombe species. However, in a lot of individuals, the stripe under the eye is absent or not complete. Without concise evidence from pure, wild specimens, and genetic analysis, I don't see how this stripe constitutes enough evidence to lump it in with Jul. marlieri. See examples below of the colour variety in Gombe available in the hobby. The bottom photo is Ad Konings' photo of a wild specimen at Gombe.



I've always labelled the Gombe fish as Julidochromis sp. "Gombe" as technically the fish isn't classified under marlieri or transcriptus, and is thus undescribed. (< as far as I know)

Thoughts? Natural hybrid?

(Please let it be known that the photo included in this post are for demonstration purposes only. I do not own these photos)


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## rennsport2011 (Oct 21, 2013)

Not a natural hybrid.

Based upon the way the descriptions are written it is a marlieri... not that the descriptions are perfect.

J. marlieri are Julidochromis with vertical markings in the body, and markings below the eye.
J. transcriptus are Julidochromis with vertical markings, without markings below the eye.


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## NLaferriere (Jan 15, 2015)

Thank you for the reply.

Hmm&#8230;not to discredit the scientific folk, but markings is probably the worst way to describe a species&#8230;especially in the fish world. There is so much geographical variation in species. Look at a non-fish species&#8230;the White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus). Only inhabits the Americas and there are 30-40 described subspecies. Makes ya wonder.

This is obviously just an observation I had when observing the mouth structure and comparing between the species. Maybe genetically Gombe is in fact J.marlieri. But I haven't heard of any genetic comparisons between the two in question.


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## NLaferriere (Jan 15, 2015)

Very good read for anyone who keeps Julidochromis species and wants to learn more about them. Interesting notes at the end about the possibility of Julidochromis having the ability to change sex.

http://cichlidnews.com/issues/2013jul/Xornatus.html


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