Dr. Joanne
Norton
Freshwater And Marine Aquarium
magazine
Notched - An
Angelfish Deformity
Photos
and Text by Dr. Joanne Norton
FAMA: March 1994, Vol. 17, #3
Fig. 1: Flat-top angelfish.
Fig. 2: A hole in the body is
present under
the dorsal fin. This fish also
has a large
notch in the lower body.
An
Angelfish Deformity
Numerous
desirable mutations in angelfish
have appeared over the year.
This article is about an
angelfish deformity that I call
"notched".
There have
been angelfish that are flat on
top of the body (Fig. 1).
A photo of a similar fish was
published on page 47 of the
March, 1981, FAMA. Occasionally,
one can encounter an angelfish
with a hole in the body (Fig.
2). A notched angelfish has
part of the body missing,
looking as if one or more pieces
were cut off with a cookie
cutter. These notched fish have
been rare in my angelfish,
occurring in approximately five
individuals in 23 years.
Notched
angelfish may have one or more
notches in the top of the body,
one or more notches in the
bottom of the body or notches in
both the top and bottom of the
body. Some notches are large and
obvious whereas others are tiny
nicks, as in the upper body
notch in the fish in Fig. 10. In
making progeny counts, I noted
the larger, obvious notches. It
is possible that some very small
notches could have been missed.
Some individuals have numerous
notches (Fig. 3).
A notched
female (Fig. 4) appeared
in my angelfish in 1989. I
raised her F1 and F2 progeny in
an attempt to find out whether
notched is inherited. This
female, mated to an unnotched
male, produced four spawns in
which every spawn had some
notched fish. The totals from
these were:
- 496 normal
- 61
top-notched
- 78
bottom-notched
- 27
top-notched and bottom
notched.
Fig. 3: Angelfish with many
notches.
Fig. 4: Notched female bred to
unnotched male.
Fig. 5: Top notched angelfish.
Fig. 6: Top-notched angelfish.
Also with split tail.
Fig. 7: Bottom-notched
angelfish.
Also with split tail.
The Total of
166 notched fish out of 662 is a
much higher incidence of notched
fish than I have seen in many
thousands of angelfish that I
have raised. Thus it appeared
that the notched trait is
inherited.
Next I raised
the F2, using a pair of F1
top-notched fish, an F1 pair of
bottom-notched fish, and an F1
pair that were both top-notched
and bottom notched. A
top-notched pair, like the ones
in Figs. 5 and 6,
produced:
- 123 normal
- 28
top-notched
- 19
bottom-notched
- 24
top-notched and bottom
notched.
Fig. 8: Bottom-notched
angelfish. Also with
split tail.
Three spawn
from F1 bottom-notched fish
(like those in Figs. 7 and 8)
produced some notched
individuals in every spawn. The
totals were:
- 152 normal
- 12
top-notched
- 45
bottom-notched
- 16
top-notched and
bottom-notched.
