Melanotaenia manibuii
Species Summary
Melanotaenia manibuii is one of eight closely related rainbowfishes from the Birds Head region of West Papua, Indonesia, described together in 2015 on the basis of combined evidence: a cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene phylogeny, genotyping at 12 microsatellite loci, and diagnostic morphological characters. The approach revealed a level of cryptic diversity in the region well beyond what traditional morphological survey alone had detected. Uniquely among the region’s rainbowfishes, it was found on the southern foothills of the Arfak Mountains, outside any karst formation — every other new species in the same study was confined to a karstic river system.
Etymology
The species is named in honour of Alfons Manibui, Bupati (local leader) of Bintuni, Papua Barat Province, Indonesia, the type locality.
Etymology compiled from C. Scharpf (2023), “Fishes of Sahul: An Etymological Survey (Part 6), the rainbowfishes (continued)”, Fishes of Sahul 37(1): 2006–2022, and etyfish.org.
Distribution & Habitat
Melanotaenia manibuii is known only from the Tisbo River, part of the Tembuni River system draining into Bintuni Bay, in the southern foothills of the Arfak Mountains about 20 km north of Bintuni town. The stream, 5–10 m wide at the type locality, flows through secondary forest over gravel and sand.
Description & Comparison with Similar Species
Live males have a brown, olive-green-tinged upper body and nape, a whitish lower body and belly, an intense and continuous black (sometimes blue-tinged) mid-lateral stripe one scale wide anteriorly and two to three scales wide on the caudal peduncle, translucent pectoral fins, uniformly pale red anal and dorsal fins, and a diffuse blue blotch on the side of the abdomen; unusually for the genus, females are coloured almost identically to males. Though geographically closest to M. irianjaya across Bintuni Bay, Melanotaenia manibuii belongs to a different phylogenetic group entirely (‘Northern Birds Head’ versus ‘Southern Birds Head’) and is told apart from it by a shorter head, deeper caudal peduncle, shorter predorsal length and shorter fin spines, and by lacking a dorsal-fin margin stripe.
Account compiled for Home of the Rainbowfish from M. F. I. Nugraha, Kadarusman, N. Hubert, J.-C. Avarre, R. K. Hadiaty, J. Slembrouck, O. Carman, Sudarto, R. Ogistira & L. Pouyaud (2015), “Eight new species of Rainbowfishes (Melanotaeniidae) from the Birds Head Region, West Papua, Indonesia”, Cybium 39(2): 99–130.
References
- Nugraha M.F.I., Kadarusman, N. Hubert, J.C. Avarre, R.K. Hadiaty, J. Slembrouck, O. Carman, Sudarto, R. Ogistira and L. Pouyaud (2015) Eight new species of Rainbowfishes (Melanotaeniidae) from the Birds Head Region, West Papua, Indonesia. Cybium 39(2): 99-130.