| Diagnosis: |
Dorsal spines (total): 21-23; Dorsal soft rays (total): 5-7; Anal spines: 6-8; Anal soft rays: 5-7. Diagnosis: Julidochromis marksmithi is a typical Julidochromis that differs mainly in its colouration and pattern from the other species of the genus: it is bright yellow and decorated by two major horizontal dark brown to blackish bands on the body with a third stripe extending from the nape only about halfway along the back at the dorsal fin base; an additional dark somewhat irregular stripe (cheek stripe) runs from the corner of the mouth across the cheek as far as the pectoral fin base , but the posterior segments beyond the preopercle are often faded or lacking; this stripe is lacking in the ornatus-transcriptus-dickfeldi group; a broad dark band, bordered by a narrow blackish edge and a submarginal light blue stripe, extends along the upper part of the dorsal fin to its angle where it may spread throughout the soft portion of the fin (Ref. 115482). It differs from the larger J. regani and J. marlieri by lacking the lower body band of those species, and all their forms; Julidochromis ornatus has a blackish band, often quite broad, running along the entire base of the dorsal fin with the remainder of the fin yellow, no black band is present along the upper part of the fin; Julidochromis dickfeldi also lacks the cheek stripe as well as the band in the dorsal fin; it is white below the central body band as opposed to the yellow in J. marksmithi; Julidochromis marlieri and J. transcriptus have vertical bars, which are absent in J. marksmithi (Ref. 115482).
Description: Body elongate, depth included 4.0-4.7 times in standard length, moderately compressed; head length 3.0-3.2 times in standard length (Ref. 115482). Dorsal profile rises in a smooth, low arc from upper lip to dorsal fin insertion (Ref. 115482). Mouth small, gape horizontal, lips thick; eye relatively small, its diameter 3.3-4.1 times in head length; snout 2.7-3.1 in head length; interorbital 3.2-4.0 in head length; teeth conical in band in each jaw with enlarged canines of varying length with orange to brown tips in the front of each jaw, usually six in the upper jaw and four in the lower jaw; a few tricuspid or sub-tricuspid teeth posteriorly, more common in younger individuals; gill rakers small, usually about four or five on lower arm of the first branchial arch (Ref. 115482). Dorsal fin long, pointed, with 21-23 spines and 5-7 soft rays, total always 28, the first spine short, the succeeding spines roughly equal from the fourth or fifth to the last, the tip of the longest soft ray reaching beyond the base of the caudal fin; the anal fin is pointed, with 6-8 spines and 5-7 soft rays, the longest reaching to about the same distance as the longest soft dorsal fin ray; the pectoral fin is relatively short, 4.7-5.3 times in standard length, with 11-12 rays, not reaching the level of the anus; the pelvic fin spine is relatively short, 7.7-9.9 times in standard length, the first ray filamentous and reaching at most to the base of the first anal fin spine; the caudal fin is rounded; the depth of the caudal peduncle is about equal to or slightly greater than its length (Ref. 115482). The scales in a lateral series number 33-34; the lateral line scales are rather variable, the upper lateral line at times extending posteriorly as far as the beginning of the caudal peduncle while in one specimen the lower lateral line was more or less absent; scales on the back above the upper lateral line are significantly smaller than the lateral line scales and those below it, and small on the thorax and abdomen behind the pelvic fins (Ref. 115482).
Colouration: The pattern differences between J. marksmithi and J. regani are quite distinct: the ground colour of J. marksmithi is bright yellow compared with the beige, sometimes with weak yellow present on back and head, background in J. regani; there are two complete horizontal body bands in J. marksmithi with a third narrower band or stripe on the back extending posteriorly from the nape only halfway along the base of the dorsal fin, but occasionally may extend further or not quite as far, and it may be interrupted; in J. regani there are three strong bands along the body; the lowermost band of J. regani, extending from the back of the pectoral fin along the lower side of the body to the lower edge of the caudal peduncle, is lacking in J. marksmithi; Julidochromis marksmithi has only a dark band on the head from the corner of the mouth to the upper pectoral fin, although the posterior section is often lacking or only weakly present beyond the preopercle, instead of the fourth band in J. regani; the dorsal fin of J. marksmithi has a narrow black edge as far as the angle of the fin and a submarginal blue stripe that extends around the angle to the tip of the last ray; below this is a strong dark stripe that may cover most of the posterior fin; scattered blue spots are present in the soft portion; the lower portion of the dorsal fin is yellowish; in J. regani the edging of the dorsal fin is similar but most of the fin is brown with a light horizontal stripe in the lower third and a line of light spots in the middle area; the caudal fin is similar in both species, with a narrow black edge and a submarginal blue band; the interior of the caudal fin in J. regani is dusky yellowish with dark spots arranged in rows; the interior of the fin in J. marksmithi is blackish with blue spots, the outer spots arranged in a crescent-shaped row; the anal fin of J. regani is dusky anteriorly, posteriorly light with black spots; in J. marksmithi the posterior section is dark with blue spots (Ref. 115482). The colour pattern of J. marksmithi resembles that of J. ornatus, but there are also significant differences: Julidochromis ornatus has a similar yellow ground colour with three dark bands on the body, lacking the fourth as in J. marksmithi; but in J. ornatus the upper band extends along the entire base of the dorsal fin, fairly broad in some forms, while the lower band ends at the anterior caudal peduncle and is separated by a gap from a moderate to large black spot, depending on origin; the lower band in J. marksmithi has at most a small thickening at the end of the band on the base of the caudal fin which may or may not be narrowly separated as a small spot; in J. ornatus the stripe on the lower part of the head is absent as is the broad dark bands that adorn the upper part of the dorsal fin, the caudal fin, and the anal fin; in J. ornatus the dorsal fin above the basal stripe or band is mostly yellow with a narrow submarginal blue stripe, the caudal fin is mostly yellow with a submarginal blue stripe and a large basal dark spot, and the anal and pelvic fins are yellow; the dorsal and anal fins of J. ornatus thus lack the dark colour and blue spotting of J. marksmithi; the head patterns of J. ornatus and J. marksmithi are similar with the body bands extending forward to the snout area where they meet; interconnections between these extensions are limited but common in J. marksmithi, rare in J. ornatus (Ref. 115482). Upper head patterns in J. marlieri and J. regani are much more complicated; in J. dickfeldi the nape pattern is reduced to spots and short bars and in J. transcriptus the extended bands are heavy and almost completely cover the nape and snout area leaving light spots or narrow white lines (Ref. 115482). Julidochromis dickfeldi and J. transcriptus also lack the cheek stripe; Julidochromis dickfeldi lack the fin patterns of J. marksmithi and has a whitish body colour ventrally, light brownish dorsally; its vertical fins are dusky with rows of light spots and lack any dark bands; Julidochromis marlieri and J. transcriptus have vertical body bars; no trace of vertical bars are ever seen in J. marksmithi (Ref. 115482). |