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''Pachypanchax playfairii'', the golden panchax, is a species of Aplocheilid 
Discovered by
killifish
A killifish is any of various oviparous (egg-laying) cyprinodontiform fish (including families Aplocheilidae, Cyprinodontidae, Fundulidae, Profundulidae and Valenciidae). All together, there are 1,270 species of killifish, the biggest family ...
, the only species of freshwater
Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...
fish endemic to the Seychelles
Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, V ...
, a group of islands in the Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...
, east of Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
. It is the only member of its genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
found outside of Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
. Within the Seychelles it is found only on the granitic islands. Here it occurs in small freshwater and brackish water streams, feeding on worms, crustaceans, insects and fish. An egg scatterer, the golden panchax breeds amongst floating water plants. This species is unusual in that the scales of the male become lifted during the breeding season, giving the skin a rough appearance. Unlike the true annual killifish, they live as long as similar fishes, a few years, 3 years is not uncommon 5 is unknown.
Discovered by Robert Lambert Playfair
Sir (Robert) Lambert Playfair (21 March 1828 – 18 February 1899) was a British soldier, diplomat, naturalist and author.
Early life
Lambert Playfair was a grandson of James Playfair, principal of the University of St Andrews, and son of Geo ...
in the Seychelles in 1863, the species was described as ''Haplocheilus playfairi'' by Albert Günther in 1866 and were moved to ''Pachypanchax'' by George S. Myers
George Sprague Myers (February 2, 1905 – November 4, 1985) was an American ichthyologist who spent most of his career at Stanford University. He served as the editor of ''Stanford Ichthyological Bulletin'' as well as president of the American So ...
in 1933; first kept in aquaria in France in 1867 (but not successfully, they died without reproducing) from a collection by Edward Wright. A population of ''P. playfairi'' was moved from The Seychelles to Zanzibar by zoologist Dr. Walter Aders after WWI for mosquito control as a public health initiative where they survived for decades even after being abandoned and at least until after WWII Subsequently, eaten by invasive Tilapia when checked by Wildekamp et al. in 1997 and Nagy in 2008 they are considered extinct on Zanzibar Island now although this population remains in the aquarium hobby, as these were one of the first tropical fish and the first killifish held in the earliest days of the aquarium hobby.
References
Fish of Africa playfairi Fish described in 1866 Taxa named by Albert Günther {{Cyprinodontiformes-stub