Rhadinocentrus ornatus (original) (raw)

Ornate Rainbowfish,Rhadinocentrus ornatus Regan 1914

Other Names: Blue Spotted Sunfish, Moreton Island Sunfish, Neon Light Sunfish, Ornate Rainbow Fish, Porthole Fish, Soft-spined Rainbowfish, Soft-spined Sunfish, Southern Soft-Spined Rainbowfish, Southern Soft-spined Sunfish, Southern Soft-spined Sun-fish, Southern Sunfish

Ornate Rainbowfish, Rhadinocentrus ornatus, from Carland Creek, at the southern tip of Tin Can Bay, southeast Queensland. Source: Neil Armstrong. License: All rights reserved

Summary:

A small slender somewhat elongate rainbowfish with dark scales margins creating a striking network pattern. Body semi-transparent with two rows of scales with black margins along mid-sides; red or pale metallic blue iridescent scales immediately below the dorsal-fin base; a black stripe along the anal-fin base; dorsal, anal and caudal fins usually blue (sometimes red) with black margins.

Ornate Rainbowfish vary in colour throughout their distribution. Most have body scales with black margins forming a network pattern, and individuals from very dark tannin-stained waters may be almost black.

Underwater footage of Ornate Rainbowfish in the Searys Creek, QLD.

Video of Ornate Rainbowfish from Searys Creek, Queensland.

Ornate Rainbowfish from Teewah Creek Tin Can Bay.

Cite this page as:

Martin F. Gomon & Dianne J. Bray, Rhadinocentrus ornatus in Fishes of Australia, accessed 18 Jan 2025, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/4098

Ornate Rainbowfish,Rhadinocentrus ornatus Regan 1914

References

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Allen, G.R., Midgley, S.H. & Allen, M. 2002. Field guide to the freshwater fishes of Australia. Perth : Western Australian Museum 394 pp.

Arthington A.H. & C.J. Marshall. 1999. Diet of the Exotic Mosquitofish, Gambusia holbrooki, in an Australian Lake and Potential for Competition with Indigenous Fish Species. Asian Fisheries Science 12: 1-16.

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Grant, E.M. 2002. Guide to Fishes. Redcliffe : EM Grant Pty Ltd 880 pp.

Hancox, D., Hoskin, C.J. & Wilson, R.S. 2010. Evening up the score: Sexual selection favours both alternatives in the colour-polymorphic ornate rainbowfish. Animal Behaviour 80(5): 845-851.

Hancox, D., R.S. Williams & C.R. White. 2012. Visual habitat geometry predicts relative morph abundance in the colour-polymorphic ornate rainbowfish. Proc. Roy. Soc. B 280(1752): online early

Lake, J.S. 1978. Australian Freshwater Fishes. Melbourne : Thomas Nelson 160 pp. 140 figs.

Leggett, R. & Merrick, J.R. 1987. Australian Native Fishes for Aquariums. Artarmon : J.R. Merrick Publications 241 pp.

Marshall, J.C. 1988. An extension of the known range of Rhadinocentrus ornatus. Fishes of Sahul 5: 196-197.

McDowall, R.M. 1996. Freshwater Fishes of South-eastern Australia. Sydney : Reed Books 2nd Edn 247 pp.

Marshall J.C. (1988) An extension of the known range of Rhadinocentrus ornatus. Fishes of Sahul 5: 196-197.

McKay, R. & J. Johnson. 1990. The freshwater and estuarine fishes, pp 153-168, in Davie, P., Stock, E.C. & Choy, D.L. (eds). The Brisbane River: A source book for the future. Australian Littoral Society, Brisbane, Australia.

Page, T., Ponniah, M., Sharma, S. & Hughes, J. 2006. Genetic distinctness of aquatic species on North Stradbroke Island: inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequence data from five freshwater species (Caridina spp., Rhadinocentrus ornatus, Nannoperca oxleyana and Macrobrachium tolmerum). Centre for Riverine Landscapes, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Griffith University. Report to Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Water, May 2006.

Page, T.J., Sharma, S. & Hughes, J.M. 2004. Deep phylogenetic structure has conservation implications for ornate rainbowfish (Melanotaeniidae: Rhadinocentrus ornatus) in Queensland, eastern Australia. Marine and Freshwater Research 55: 165-172.

Pusey, B.J., Kennard, M.J. & Arthington, A.H. 2004. Freshwater Fishes of North-Eastern Australia. CSIRO Publishing, Victoria.

Regan, C.T. 1914. Report on the freshwater fishes collected by the British Ornithologists' Union expedition and the Wollaston expedition in Dutch New Guinea. Transactions of the Zoological Society of London 20(6): 275-286.

Vaca, H.F. & White, C.R. 2010. Environmental modulation of metabolic allometry in ornate rainbowfish Rhadinocentrus ornatus. Biology Letters 6(1): 136-138.