| Glowlight danio | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Cypriniformes |
| Family: | Cyprinidae |
| Genus: | Danio |
| Species: | D. choprai |
| Binomial name | |
| Danio choprai Hora, 1928 |
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Glowlight danio (Danio choprai) is a small, schooling fish closely related to the popular zebrafish Danio rerio. This should not be confused with the GloFish [1], a trademarked brand of fluorescent zebrafish that appears to glow in the dark under a black light. The Danio choprai is an active danionin species that spends most of its time on mid-water levels. This species feeds on insects that have fallen into the water, aquatic insect larvae, and other small animals. In the aquarium it accepts most foods offered, including most dry foods. It has a streamlined body marked with a brilliant orange longitudinal band and a series of vertical blue-black bars on the flanks. The fins are edged with yellow. In recent years it has become quite widely traded as an aquarium fish, but otherwise has no commercial importance. Its common name derives from its similarity to the glowlight tetra, a South American characin only distantly related to this fish.They get on well with all other danio species except the giant danio.
There is less frequently traded geographical variant from the Putao area of northern Myanmar, known as the "northern glowlight danio", sometimes referred to by a fictitious scientific name "Danio putaoensis". This variant is larger, has more vertical bars and longer barbels.
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S. L. Hora originally named this fish Danio choprae after Dr. B. N. Chopra. However, names ending in '-e' are feminine and reserved for Latin names honouring women. Latin names honouring men usually end with '-i', and consequently the name of this fish has been recently amended. [2] [3]