TAXONOMY

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes)
Order: Perciformes (Perch-likes)
Family: Osphronemidae (Gouramies)

Genus/species: Trichogaster trichopterus


GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS: Usually silvery blue in color but their colors can change significantly with their moods, as well as during spawning, when they obtain a much deeper blue hue.The three-spot gourami displays only two spots, one in the center of the body and a second on the caudal peduncle. The eye is actually the third “spot”. T. trichopterus has many different colour forms and varieties, all of which have been selectively bred for the aquarium trade. These are seen much more often than the natural form, which is the blue-grey three spotted fish. They include gold, opaline, cosby, marbled and silver forms. Length to 15 cm (6 inches).

DISTRIBUTION/HABITAT: Southeast Asia: Mekong River basin in Laos, Yunnan, Thailand, Cambodia, and Viet Nam. Preference is thickly vegetated fresh water in ditches, canals, ponds, swamps, rivers or lakes.

DIET IN THE WILD: Omnivore. Eats insects, crustaceans, and zooplankton.

REPRODUCTION and DEVELOPMENT: Typical of gouramis, male builds bubble nest, usually under a large leaf, after which he displays to female. Their courtship ends with her releasing eggs, which the male fertilizes and then collects in his mouth and “spits” into the bubble nest, where he guards them until they hatch in 2–3 days.

CONSERVATION: IUCN Red List; Least Concern (LC) Abundant to common in suitable habitats throughout its range.

REMARKS: Like all labyrinth fish, the moonlight gourami has a special lung-like organ that allows it to breathe air directly from above the water line. This allows gouramis to survive in pools with a low oxygen.

Processed into salted, dried fish in Java.

LOCATION: BO09 Rainforest Borneo, Southeast Asia Community 

References

fishbase  www.fishbase.org/summary/Trichopodus-trichopterus.html

Encyclopedia of Life  eol.org/pages/222297/details

Ron’s flickr  http://www.flickr.com/photos/cas_docents/6287701586/in/set-72157627795872023

Ron’s WordPress shortlink  http://wp.me/p1DZ4b-dJ