Uegitglanis zammaranoi

Gianferrari, 1923. Siluriformes. Clariidae.

Environment. Demersal; freshwater.
Climate / Range. Tropical; 10°N – 0°N

Description. D.55; A.42; P.1/8; V.6; C. 18. Branchiostegal rays 9. Gill rakers on first arch 10. Vertebrae 62. Gill membranes free from isthmus. The body is elongated and scaleless with dorsal and anal fins long reaching almost caudal fin. Head greatly depressed. The height of the body is lying in about 8 times the length (without caudal) and the length of the head 6 1/2 times. Lenght head is about twice its width. Eyes absent, skull roof invisible. The face has a higher cephalic central depression along its entire length. The snout is rounded. There are only occipital fontanel, elliptical, whose length is 2 1/2 times width. Intermaxillary teeth are villiform, the vomero-palatine villiform and granular; the latter are arranged in 2-4 irregular series forming a band with a short median posterior process and the width of it is equivalent to half the width of the band jaw. Barbels four pairs, nasal barbels included 1 1/2 times the length of the head, and the maxillary barbels are slightly longer than the head; the external mandibular length a 1 1/3 that of the internal mandibular, which measure 2/3 the length of the head. Dorsal fin has 55 rays (all soft) and the distance that separates the head is roughly equal to the length thereof. The anal fin has 42 rays (all soft) and is separated from the tail by a very small space. The length of pectoral fin is higher than half the length of the head. Pectoral spine with a very weak, not serrated. The ventral is separated from the caudal by a distance equal to more than 1 3/4 times that which separates it from the tip of the snout. Caudal fin has 18 rays and measures 4/5 the length of the head. Dermal papillae are observed on the lower lip and on the cephalic lateral sides and top. The blind and cave-dwelling Uegitglanis bears tubular infraorbitals and suprapreopercles (David 1936). The air-bladder is bilobed, transversely placed and partially enclosed in a bony capsule. In Uegitglanis suprabranchial organ it is supposedly absent (macroscopically). The reduced air-breathing abilities in this fish might well be compensated by an increase in vascularisation of the dorsal fin (Tortonese, 1952). Body depigmented. Traces of melanic pigment are visible although eyes are totally regressed, with no vestiges of optical nerves (Ercolini and Berti, 1977; Ercolini et al.,1982). Chardon (1968) considered the (supposed macroscopical) absence of the suprabranchial organ as one of the characters justifying creation of Uegitglanididae for the genus Uegitglanis. U. zammaranoi is the sister group to Heteropneustes and the remaining clariids. The problematic relationship of this species to the rest of the family is due to the lack of a labyrinth organ that characterizes the family. The holotype is a specimen whose total length is 101 mm.

Other specimens; D. 48-55; A. 38-45; P. 1/8; V.6, ± 54 vertebrae and 10 (?) pairs of ribs, epidermis thickness 40 µm , club cells quite abundant Ø 15 µm. Size up to 250 mm in total lenght.

>>Uegitglanis zammaranoi Gianf.
10 esemplari di Uegìt e 3 di Mabaddèi Uèn (Uebi Scebeli, Benadir). Concordano tutti quasi completamente con la descrizione del tipo fatta dalla Prof. Gianferrari. La loro lunghezza varia da 48 a 105 mm. La D. ha 47- 55 raggi, l’ A. 35-40, la C. 12-16, la P. un raggio semplice (preferisco chiamarlo così anziché spina) e 8 bifidi, la V. 6 raggi. Ho notato che in alcuni esemplari il barbiglio mascellare è lungo solo quanto il capo, mentre in altri giunge ai della P. — Le Le papille cutanee sono più numerose, nel lato dorsale del cupo, di quanto non appaia dal disegno della Gianferrari. Infatti la serie ventrale che partendo dal labbro inferiore, accompagna inferiormente i lati, si incurva poscia e giunge sul lato dorsale con due papille, di cui una molto spostata medialmente, quasi all’altezza del punto raggiunto dal barbiglio nasale se ripiegato posteriormente. Presso quest’ ultima papilla ve n’è talora un altra più piccola, appena più anteriore. Sotto la base del barbiglio nasale vi è pure una papilla, la prima di cinque, che formano una serie curva in basso, volta all’ indietro. Una grossa papilla si trova anche subito sopra la base del barbiglio nasale. Infine un po’ prima della metà del capo, nella linea mediana, vi son due piccole papille, che non sono quasi mai del tutto simmetriche.
Hab.: Pozzi di Uegit.<<

„Portano denti in Uegitglanis le ossa premascellari, dentali, palatine, ed il vomere. I denti appaiono distribuiti abbastanza regolarmente in due file sul vomere, in quattro sui palatini ; essi costituiscono qui insieme una fascia con un breve processo mediano, larga circa la meta di quella degli intermascellari. La distribuzione dei denti e invece del tutto irregolare su gli intermascellari ed i dentali. Tutti i denti sono conici : molto sottili ed aguzzi gli intermascellari, i dentali ed i palatini, notevolmente piu robusti, leggermente smussati all’ apice i vomerini. Sono tutti sprofondati nella mucosa orale, dalla quale sporgono solo in piccola parte: questo fatto puo facilmente condurre — ad un’ osservazione superficiale,— a considerare come granulari i vomerini dei quali non si scorge che l’apice smussato.
L’altezza di ogni dente varia in media fra 1 – 1 1/3 mm. Una numerazione esatta dei denti intermascellari e dentali distribuiti del tutto irregolarmente, non mi fu possibile; in individui di diversa lunghezza, ne ho potuti contare in media fra i 380 ed i 410. In un esemplare lungo 87 mm. contai circa 410 denti, e precisamente : 180 dentali. 190 intermascellari, 40 vomero palatini.„

Reproduction: In captivity has never been observed, in the wild reproduction is presumed to occur between January and March, a period characterized by a dry, hot climate; females with developed ovaries were collected only in March, from the well of Manas.

Distribution. Uegitglanis zammaranoi is found only in the artesian wells of the former Italian Somaliland. It is restricted to caves near the Uegit and the Uebi Scebeli Rivers in Somalia.

Aquarium. Water conditions: temperature 28°C, Uegit – pH 8, total hardness 40°dH, Iscia-Baidoa – pH 7,5, total hardness: 29,9°dH . Their food consisted of fresh Tubifex and crustaeans. Kept in labolatory for about 10 years in very good conditions.

Links:

http://www.crcnetbase.com/action/showImage?doi=10.1201/EBK1578086702-s1&iName=master.img-047.jpg&w=323&h=134

http://acsi.acnatsci.org/base/image_show_wrapper.html?target=129716

http://resources.metapress.com/pdf-preview.axd?code=l6k145303l323t05&size=largest

http://resources.metapress.com/pdf-preview.axd?code=x1u55572q8hp2184&size=largest

http://maps.thefullwiki.org/Uegitglanis_zammaranoi

http://users.telenet.be/marc.bellemans/Jubbi_F.htm

http://books.google.pl/books?id=iSUh6H_D28sC&pg=PA25&dq=Uegitglanis++no+externally+visible+eyes&hl=pl&ei
=v5NqTYONOYem4AbsrrHfCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-preview-link&resnum=1&ved=0CC4QuwUwAA#v=snippet&q=
Uegitglanis&f=false

http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PDABB455.pdf

http://www.speleogenesis.info/journals/result_view.php?gj_id=11145

http://www.speleogenesis.info/journals/result_view.php?gj_id=11141

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:-skZalP9qYEJ:www.crcnetbase.com/doi/pdf/10.1201/EBK1578086702-c10+uegitglanis+http://www.crcnetbase.com&hl=pl&gl=pl&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESiO4CKIjnlz9-iU6zUQ8moeFRGvXhG4tuVV7kglDQsA8VYp9kk5B-2XEOJrB2PPPEuA8YS39DRMeQI3fVtp0sLGutQeqxpoY-8RSztZj7FFlVy7M9hFDKap9CzW1JSI3XzaPZwd&sig=AHIEtbQZBVrP60fyHLmDpTkU7dFDTXe2hQ