''Parambassis pulcinella'', the humphead glassfish or humphead perchlet, is a species of

Asiatic glassfish The Asiatic glassfishes are a family, the Ambassidae, of freshwater and marine fishes that were formerly classified in the order Perciformes, but most authorities consider this order to be paraphyletic and that the Ambassidae are of uncertain af ...

native to fast-flowing streams in the Ataran basin (itself a part of the

Salween , ''Mae Nam Salawin'' ( , name_etymology = , image = Sweet_View_of_Salween_River_in_Tang_Yan_Township,_Shan_State,_Myanmar.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = Salween River in Shan State, Myanmar , map ...

basin) in southeast

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

and west

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

.Humphead Glassfish, Parambassis pulcinella, Humphead Perchlet
/ref>SeriouslyFish:
Parambassis pulcinella
'' Retrieved 11 July 2014 It reaches a length of and is sometimes seen in the

aquarium An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...

trade. It is a relative of the

perch Perch is a common name for fish of the genus ''Perca'', freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which three species occur in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Percif ...

. Like other glass perch, ''Parambassis pulcinella'' is largely colorless and transparent. It grows to 8 cm in length and has a prominent hump in front of the first dorsal fin formed by a very long, thin outgrowth of the

supraoccipital The occipital bone () is a cranial dermal bone and the main bone of the occiput (back and lower part of the skull). It is trapezoidal in shape and curved on itself like a shallow dish. The occipital bone overlies the occipital lobes of the cereb ...

spine. The supraoccipital is a central, dorsal ossification on the occipital bone . The hump occurs in both sexes, but is larger in males. Dorsal and anal fins have gray or black outer edges, the first dorsal fin and the anal fin each have a row of dots towards the body. Both lobes of the forked caudal fins have black stripes. At the base of the first dorsal fin is a small black spot from which a black stripe extends to the head. The first dorsal fin is supported by seven fin spines, the second by a fin spine and seven soft rays. The anal fin has three spines and 16 to 17 soft rays. The number of vertebrae is 25. The area behind the dorsal fins is scaleless. The humphead glassfish lives in large clear-water rivers, especially near waterfalls and large rapids. It is territorial .

References

* Maurice Kottelat (2003): ''Parambassis pulcinella'' , a new species of glassperch (Teleostei: Ambassidae) from the Ataran River basin (Myanmar), with comments on the family-group names Ambassidae, Chandidae and Bogodidae. Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, March, 2003, Volume 14, Number 1

pulcinella Pulcinella (; nap, Pulecenella) is a classical character that originated in of the 17th century and became a stock character in Neapolitan puppetry. Pulcinella's versatility in status and attitude has captivated audiences worldwide and kept t ...

Freshwater fish of Asia Taxa named by Maurice Kottelat Fish described in 2003 {{Percoidea-stub