Silver dollar, Metynnis hypsauchen (Müller and Troschel, 1844)

The silver dollar is native to South America (Galib and Mohsin, 2011). This species was imported in Bangladesh from Thailand and Singapore (Galib and Mohsin, 2010 and 2011). This species was recorded from several aquarium shops of Dhaka and Khulna cities (Galib and Mohsin, 2011); and sometimes in Rajshahi city. Life span is 5 to 10 years (Fishlore, 2009).

Systematic position
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii (Ray-finned fishes)
Order: Characiformes (Characins)
Suborder: Characoidei
Superfamily: Characoidea
Family: Characidae (Characins)
Subfamily: Serrasalminae
Genus: Metynnis
Species: M. hypsauchen

Synonyms
Metynnis calichromus Ahl, 1923
Metynnis calichromus schreitmuelleri Ahl, 1923
Metynnis ehrhardti Ahl, 1927
Metynnis schreitmuelleri Ahl, 1923
Myletes hypsauchen Müller and Troschel, 1844

Common/local names
English: Silver dollar
Bangladesh: Silver dollar

Morphology: Body diamond shaped, strongly compressed and bright silvery in color. Eyes comparatively large. Anal fin is long and orange or reddish in color and with orange marking.

Measurements of the different body lengths are: SL 80.85-85.42% of TL, FL 91.67-92.55% of TL, BD 56.25-56.38% of TL, HL 23.04-25.00% of TL, CP 4.17-5.32% of TL and Eye 41.67-50% of HL (Galib and Mohsin, 2011).

Fin formula: D. 6; P1. 8; P2. 7; A. 25; C. 18 (Galib and Mohsin, 2011)

Maximum length in Bangladesh: 12 cm (Galib and Mohsin, 2011)

Food and feeding: Chiefly herbivore (Fishlore, 2009) and they will accept most foods including flakes, pellets, frozen, freeze dried and live foods in aquarium (Galib and Mohsin, 2011).

Spawning: No breeding was found in Bangladesh (Galib and Mohsin, 2011).

Sexing: They are a brilliant silver in color and in some varieties, the male will have a small amount of red on its anal fin (Fishlore, 2009).

Fishery info: Used as ornamental fish or aquarium fish in Bangladesh.

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REFERENCES

Ahl E (1923) Einige neue Characiniden der Gattung Aphyocharax. In: Ichthyologische Mitteilungen, II. Mitteilungen aus dem Zoologischen Museum in Berlin, 11(1): 32-35.

Fishlore (2009) FishLore.com Tropical Fish Information, retrieved on December 12, 2009; http://www.fishlore.com/Profiles-SilverDollar.htm

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. 91-92.

Müller J and Troschel FH (1844) Synopsis generum et specierum familiae Characinorum. (Prodromus descriptionis novorum generum et specierum). Archiv für Naturgeschichte, 10(1): 81-99.

 

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