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My forearms and shoulders ache, the back of my neck is fried from the tropical sun, and my back is screaming at me. Yes, I just came back from two days of collecting in and around Lake Nabugabo... and I am a happy camper.

Big news is that I turned up what appear to be two spp of Synodontis. Why is that big news? Because there is only one recorded sp from the lake: S. afrofischeri. I am assuming that the second spp is a described sp from the Lake Victoria basin that just has not been recorded in Kale Nabugabo.

In addition to S. afrofischeri; S. frontosa, S. khartoumensis, S. macrops, and S. victoriae have been recorded from Lake Victoria. Assuming the pics in the Cat-eLog are all correctly identified, my mystery Syno should be S. khartoumensis. I'll be interested to hear what the Syno experts think.

The most notable non-catfish I collected, to my mind, was a beautiful pair of Ctenopoma muriei. Since I have never collected Ctenopoma, I was pretty happy. Also collected a number of barb spp and Haplochromines.
-Shane

Holy cr#p Shane that is exciting...happy camper indeed.

Hope you don't mind I cropped the syno pics.

Khartoumensis is supposedly a spotted species so I would think that is out.

This sort of pattern is also seen in syno's from the drainage's south and east of Lake Victoria

Other fish to look at for the unidentified one are fuelliborni, juvenile rukwaensis...these are fish that like lakes as well. I will gladly do some digging through my books. Another that has this sort of pattern is orientalis but it is a small fish and from even farther east, this is not it.

It seems patterns can change after capture in some of these, even in just a few days and distribution ranges are still a bit up in the air.



Oh...the other fish are cool too! Were you able to take some home?

Birger

Birger,
Thanks for cropping the images. I am on my new computer and have not found the photo editing software yet.

Yes, all fishes came home with me and are in the little (150 gallon) pond I built last week. Everything transported fine except the Haplochromids. I left the lake with three females and one male and everything expired on the drive, or shortly there after, except one female. The drive back to Kampala was three hours including a good hour on dirt roads... all of it in an African rain storm (Go ahead, hum the Toto song). Next time I will find a way to transport the cichlids with more care.

I was wondering if the mystery Syno was just a younger S. afrofischeri and that is why it had a different pattern. After watching them for a few hours in the pond though it is clearly a very different fish. They are all three settled in and the "odd one out" looks even more different now that s/he is settled in.

Ok, so what is it? HH where are you?

-Shane

Actually, these fish all look too high in the body for I think they're all - but ONLY at first look, I need to look up books...

Jools

PS How GREAT is it to have Shane collecting posts again folks.

Jools wrote:PS How GREAT is it to have Shane collecting posts again folks.

Because a picture is worth 1K words.

Note: The cracked blue plate was what the young man was using as his bilge (i.e. to bail water from his canoe). I decided it would make a better photo background when I realized I had a light color shirt on this morning. Always wear a darker colored shirt collecting. Light colors scares away the fish (they think you are a crane or heron) and makes a crappy photo background.

-Shane

Actually, these fish all look too high in the body for Synodontis afrofischeri I think they're all Synodontis fuelleborni - but ONLY at first look, I need to look up books...

I would say fuelleborni as well for all...What swayed it for me is this seems to be the only species of the ones in question that has the faint black bar from tip to base on each lobe of the caudal. The Rukwa book has a extensive description for both afrofischeri and fuelliborni which to me these fish fit best to the latter.

A major discrepancy is the known distribution range...this would be pushing it for sure.

Is the third "unknown" syno smaller than the other two? if it is smaller than it is still coming out of juvenile coloration, it would be of interest to me which are male and which are female
(not that I expect you to pull them out of the pond)

I am interested to see what the others think.

Birger

The S. afrofischeri identification I based on Chapmen et al (1996) Refugia for Endangered Fishes from an Introduced Predator in Lake Nabugabo, Uganda. Conservation. Bio. Vol 10, No 2.

This paper has a spp listing for the Lake.

This fish also appears (to my untrained Syno eye) to match Hilgendorf's figures.

http://www.eol.org/pages/223245

The fish is similar to the one at Allan's site.

http://www.scotcat.com/factsheets/synod ... cheri.html

I am not defending the S. afrofischeri identification, just pointing out why I went with it.

Is the third "unknown" syno smaller than the other two? if it is smaller than it is still coming out of juvenile coloration, it would be of interest to me which are male and which are female

Birger, as you can see from the "bucket photo" above, there is not a great deal of size difference between the three fish. The "odd" one is the smallest of the three, but there is not more than 4 cm difference from the smallest to the largest.

-Shane

Well, indeed, and what do I know about Synos! The humeral process is medium broad in both species. S. ful has a bigger adipose in all the drawings I've seen (I don't really like the FAO ones, but they do show this as does Poll, 1971) and is about 15% higher in the body i'd estimate. I've seen both species (always sold as S. afrofisheri) and S. afrofisheri is really quite slender especially when youn to the point its shape puts you in mind of something like S. brichardi.

I've not actually seen either species since the early nineties!

Jools

I am not defending the S. afrofischeri identification, just pointing out why I went with it.

And with the range it only makes sense but...my information does talk about how the two have been often confused, isn't it always that way nothing straitforward

Bad news on the mystery Syno above. I just checked the pond this morning and he is not long for this earth. He was already heavily damaged when I got him from a young boy, who caught him in a small gill net. As Synos are tough I hoped he might pull through, but it does not look like he will. The rest of the fishes, including the two S. afrofischeri, look great.

The locals, unfortunately, are not much help identifying Synos as all species are simply known as Nkolongo.

Surviving take from the excursion is thus two S. afrofischeri, a pair of Ctenopoma muriei, a single female cichlid, and about 15 barbs. There are also several tadpoles I collected as I want them to grow up and inhabit the pond and grounds. Not a bad day's catch.

Link to interactive map of Lake Nabugabo
http://www.wetlands.org/reports/rammap/ ... d%20system

Some notes on collecting Synos:
As Nabugabo (24 km squared) is a microcosm of Victoria (68,800 km squared). I can only assume that the below notes hold true for Victoria as well.

Historically, Synos were common in Lake Nabugabo proper. A 1962 expedition noted S. afrofischeri as common. The introduction of the nile perch, Tilapia, and Oreochromis changed that. Species that could tolerate low oxygen levels fled these new predators and took up residence in the surrounding swamp and the papyrus-choked Juma River that feeds Lake Nabugabo. The low oxygen levels and heavy structure (mostly emerged plants) provided protection from the new predators. Mean dissolved O2 in the Lake is 3.8 mg/L while in the Juma it is 1.3 mg/L. Species that could not adapt to these new habitats disappeared. These included Bagrus docmac, three of the four mormyrids, Clarias gariepinus, and some of the endemic cichlids.

I suspect the extinction of Bagrus docmac and Clarias gariepinus in the lake was also hurried along by the perch and Tilapia eating all their prey.

There are still S. afrofischeri in Lake Nabugabo, but they are limited to the weed choked margins near feeder streams. These are typically shallow (.5 to 1 meter) areas where thick stands of hippo grass grow.

The heavy structure in the papyrus swamps, weed-choked river, and hippo grass stands make collecting very difficult. There is too much vegetation to pull a seine and a cast net would not reach the substrate as the plants would hold it up. Additionally, S. afrofischeri is mainly nocturnal based on when they are caught by local fishermen. Collecting with A frame or circular nets would likely turn up a few Synos in the swamps and amongst the papyrus stands in the river, but this is hit or miss. I used this type of net, however, with great success in the river to collect barbs and Ctenopoma.

I suspect that the best method for collecting Synos will be minnow or bait traps left over night in heavily vegetated areas, such as stands of hippo grass.

-Shane

i love reading all about this, it's amazing, where you are and what you can do. amazing.

I suspect that the best method for collecting Synos will be minnow or bait traps left over night in heavily vegetated areas, such as stands of hippo grass.

does that mean there are hippos there? do they eat they synos I would imagine? probably all the animals in the area would eat them I imagine? what are their natural predators?

does that mean there are hippos there? do they eat they synos I would imagine? probably all the animals in the area would eat them I imagine? what are their natural predators?

Yes, there are hippos there. However, hippos are vegetarians. I suppose that once in a while by accident they may bite off a clump of aquatic grass where some poor catfish is hiding.

Before the introduction of the nile perch and various tilapia, the synos of the area had it pretty good. Their main predators were probably the various fish eagles and wading birds (storkes, cranes, etc) that hunt the shallows. Bagrus, Clarias, and lungfish likely ate some synos, but those predators have been pretty much wipped out by the nile perch. I would also assume that crocs, especially juveniles, eat synos when they can catch them.

-Shane

I moved the two S. afrofischeri to their own 45 gallon and placed the barbs and Ctenopoma in their own 40 gal. two weeks ago. No additional losses since the initial ones.

One the cool side... tonight, for the first time, the two synos were actually out eating dry food (Tetra flake) for with the lights on. They look great and healthy.

-Shane

How cool is this, Shane?
Amanda

Wow, It's like I'm on vacation
And I learned a new word -

all species are simply known as Nkolongo

Note: The cracked blue plate was what the young man was using as his bilge (i.e. to bail water from his canoe). I decided it would make a better photo background when I realized I had a light color shirt on this morning. Always wear a darker colored shirt collecting. Light colors scares away the fish (they think you are a crane or heron) and makes a crappy photo background.

Now I'm confused.
Just a curious note re the white shirt. Many birds here that are fishers are white/light on the belly and dark when seen from above. Also many of our fish have the same light below/darker above colouring including the opposite colouring for the USD cats. Would it make sense to wear "sky" coloured clothing to make the catcher 'disappear'?

Also can the odd fish be preserved somehow to study it further? I don't know how these things work

Would it make sense to wear "sky" coloured clothing to make the catcher 'disappear'?

Also can the odd fish be preserved somehow to study it further? I don't know how these things work

You could try "sky" colors and these might work OK in a wide open area. Usually though the collecting background is plants/forest/swamp etc. I tend to go for "earth" colors (greens, browns). I have experimented with colors and my pond. No doubt to my mind the fishes scatter faster if you lean over the pond in light color clothing.

The easiest way to preserve fish for the amateur collector is alcohol. 80 proof booze is 40% alcohol, which is pretty close to the recommended portion. Cheap vodka works great.
-Shane