Phantom Tetra, Hyphessobrycon megalopterus (Eigenmann, 1915)

The phantom tetra is also known as black phantom tetra. This species was introduced Bangladesh from Thailand and Singapore by the aquarium fish importers of the country (Galib and Mohsin, 2010 and 2011). This fish is native to South America (Wikipedia, 2010; Galib and Mohsin, 2011).

Systematic position
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii (Ray-finned fishes)
Order: Characiformes (Characins)
Family: Characidae (Characins)
Genus: Hyphessobrycon
Species: H. megalopterus

Synonyms
Megalamphodus megalopterus Eigenmann, 1915
Megalamphodus rogoaguae Pearson, 1924.

Morphology: Roughly tetragonal shaped, light grey in coloring, with a black patch, surrounded by iridescent silver edging, posterior of the gills on each side.

Maximum length reported: 3.5 cm (Galib and Mohsin, 2011).

Food and feeding: The natural diets are small crustaceans, insects, and worms (Mills and Vevers, 1989).

Breeding and gender differentiation: No information of reproduction was recorded in Bangladesh (Galib and Mohsin, 2011). The male’s fins are black, as is the female’s dorsal fin; the female’s pelvic, anal, and adipose fins are reddish in color (Wikipedia, 2010; Galib and Mohsin, 2011).

Diseases: No information of disease was recorded in Bangladesh but this fish is sensitive to temperature fluctuation (Galib and Mohsin, 2011).

Economic importance: Used as ornamental fish in Bangladesh and retail price was recorded between BDT 80 and 120 per pair (Galib and Mohsin, 2011).

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REFERENCES

Eigenmann CH. 1915. The Cheirodontinae, a subfamily of minute characid fishes of South America. Memoirs of the Carnegie Museum, 7(1):1-99.

Galib SM and Mohsin ABM. 2010. Exotic Ornamental Fishes of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Journal of Progressive Science and Technology, 8(2): 255-258.

Galib SM and Mohsin ABM. 2011. Cultured and Ornamental Exotic Fishes of Bangladesh Past and Present, LAP-Lambert Academic Publishing, Germany, pp. 88-89.

Mills D and Vevers G. 1989. The Tetra encyclopedia of freshwater tropical aquarium fishes. Tetra Press, New Jersey, 208 pp.

Wikipedia. 2010. Black phantom tetra. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, retrieved on January 01, 2010; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_phantom_tetra.

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