Ornate paradisefish

Ornate paradisefish
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Family: Osphronemidae
Genus: Malpulutta
Species: M. kretseri
Binomial name
Malpulutta kretseri

The ornate paradisefish or spotted gourami (Malpulutta kretseri) is a species of gourami endemic to Sri Lanka. It inhabits shallow, slow-flowing streams in forested areas shaded with plentiful vegetation near the edges and a substrate covered by leaf litter. It is a carnivore, preying on plankton, fish fry, and the larvae of insects. They can reach a length of 4 cm (1.6 in), though most are only around 2 cm (0.79 in). This species can also occasionally be found in the aquarium trade,[2] where it is reportedly exceedingly shy.

References

  1. Pethiyagoda, R. 1996. Malpulutta kretseri. In: IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. www.iucnredlist.org Archived June 27, 2014, at the Wayback Machine.. Downloaded on 25 March 2014.
  2. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2014). "Malpulutta kretseri" in FishBase. February 2014 version.


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