Fish with History! Lobe-fins, Ganoid scales, Bony Tongues, Cartilage skeletons!

[sbell]

Okay, it is a false grouping, but this is a thread meant to capture the non-typical, 'prehistoric'-ish fish (obviously they aren't really prehistoric since they are still alive. And living fossil is a silly antiquated term).

For a sort-of guideline, most of the non 'euteleosts' in the borad sense of the term; the book Jurassic Fishes (it's an aquarium fish book) is a good guide for that (just ignore the stingrays--they have their own thread

So bring forth your lungfish, your coelacanths (I know, they have another place too), your gars, your bichirs, your arowana, your eels, your sturgeons...stuff like that. Any knifefish, mormyrids or Pantodon? They would belong here too.

So, because I want to  I will start with the Polypterids. All 3 figures of them. All Polypterus endlicheri.

Kaiyodo Choco Pets (normal and albino)


And the Colorata Fossil Fishes (new version):

[sbell]

Reply 2! Double post!
Gars and Bowfin--holosteans!

Wooden shortnose and alligator gar (from Simeon Chambers, who started the Replica Toy Fish):


Toba Aquarium Longnose gar:


Malcolm Mlodoch Spotted Gar:


Colorata Fossil Fishes Alligator gar:


Whittier Decoys Bowfin (the only bowfin I have ever found so far):


The only ones missing? I can't seem to link my RTF gars...but I will find a way.

[brontodocus]

Aah, the Polypterus endlicheri figures! From the photos I may like the Kaiyodos a little more but I assume the Colorata is as good quality wise? Oh, and they seem to be equal in size - if not the Kaiyodos are bigger than the Colorata.

I'm not sure what others think but coelacanths might be as appropriate here as in the deep-sea fish thread. I guess a small degree of overlap will be unavoidable sometimes.

Well, speaking about Replica Toy Fish (I guess you have all of them, too?):

Scaphirhynchus platorhynchus (Rafinesque, 1820); Shovelnose Sturgeon. Replica Toy Fish Company. Length 137 mm, scale approx. 1.5 - 1:7.


Acipenser sinensis Gray, 1835; Chinese Sturgeon. Colorata Endangered Species - Fossil Fish Box. Length 106 mm, scale approx. 1:12 - 1:47.


Arapaima gigas (Schinz, 1822); Pirarucú. Colorata Endangered Species - Fossil Fish Box. Length 117 mm, scale approx. 1:15 - 1:21. _{From what I've seen the new version might look even better.}


Scleropages aureus Pouyaud et al., 2003; Asian Arowana. Colorata Endangered Species - Fossil Fish. Length 69 mm, scale approx. 1:7 - 1:13. _{Scleropages formosus has been split up and this looks more like aureus, although the new version might again be a different one.}


Scleropages legendrei Pouyaud et al., 2003. Kei Craft paper model by Goto Kei, 2005. Length 203 mm (TL), 176 mm (SL), scale approx. 1:2 - 1:4.


Anguilla anguilla (Linnaeus, 1758); European Eel. Bullyland. Length 172 mm, scale approx. 1:2 - 1:8.


Mastacembelus cf. armatus (Lacépède, 1800); Zig-zag Eel or Tire Track Eel. PlayVisions. Length 104 mm, scale approx. 1:4 - 1:9.

But that's about it for the moment (I still have some morays, though).
For those who don't have them yet, the Replica Toy Fish are awesome and relatively new (less than two years I believe), reasonably priced and available internationally. It's a one-person company and of course I like to give some support here, too.

Hehe, I deleted my photos of the RTF garfish figures again when I saw your 2nd post and that you were planning to upload them, too.

[sbell]

There now the gar pictures work:

Replica Toy Fish Alligator and Longnose gar (large series). Maybe someday he'll get the small set out.


I'll get my various sturgeons, eels, and the updated Fossil Fish set (among others) soon.

And the Colorata bichir is a little bigger, but it's hard to tell since it's coiled a bit.  But they are both very well done figures--it went without saying that I would get them (those have always been my favourite fish).

[Jetoar]

Amazings sturgeons and prehistoric fish. My favorites are Arapaima and Gar  .

[sbell]

Amazings sturgeons and prehistoric fish. My favorites are Arapaima and Gar  .

We'll get to the Arapaima.  They are a very popular one for Japanese companies (along with the Asian arowana).

[Jetoar]

Amazings sturgeons and prehistoric fish. My favorites are Arapaima and Gar  .

We'll get to the Arapaima.  They are a very popular one for Japanese companies (along with the Asian arowana).

I understand them. They are atracctive fishes  .

[sbell]

All right, time for some Chondrostean love.  Pretty much sturgeons, with only one paddlefish (how the Chinese species has missed Japanese figure-making notice, I don't know).

Replica Toy Fish Shovelnose sturgeon (I know it has already been pictured, but this is a different view):

Again, maybe someday he'll get the rest of the proposed ones done...

Colorata Fossil Fishes Chinese sturgeon:
Original version:


Newer version:


Kaiyodo Enoshima Aquarium, Capsule Aquarium Series V.1
White sturgeon:


Epoch Shark Ray Series, Life On Earth Trip Series
Beluga Sturgeon


I think there may be one or two other sturgeon figures out there.  If so, I hope they show up here!

And finally, the only American Paddlefish I've found:
From Whittier Decoys (also the source of the previously-pictured only Bowfin):


But if anyone can prove otherwise I really want to know!

[Jetoar]

When I was a child. I thougt that Paddel fish was a Basking shark of river  .

[brontodocus]

Well, at least there is a sort of goofy looking bathtub toy (which can squirt water) that's been distributed by Tchibo (a coffee store company that offers many other goods, too):


Since you mentioned American Paddlefish, well, the "rostrum" is completely cylindrical and quite narrow. But I still think it's not meant to be Psephurus gladius. It comes from a set of five animal toys which also included an Opah (Lampris guttatus).

[sbell]

Well, at least there is a sort of goofy looking bathtub toy (which can squirt water) that's been distributed by Tchibo (a coffee store company that offers many other goods, too):


Since you mentioned American Paddlefish, well, the "rostrum" is completely cylindrical and quite narrow. But I still think it's not meant to be Psephurus gladius. It comes from a set of five animal toys which also included an Opah (Lampris guttatus).

So the real question--can you get me one?!

And doing a quick look...it appears that a Psephurus figure may belong in the extinct figures column now (if there were any made). None have been located since 2003.

[brontodocus]

So the real question--can you get me one?!

I'll keep my eyes open. They were sold in 2008 and I haven't seen them since. But I'm sure if the set turns up again somewhere it won't be expensive, the original price was €6.99 for the whole set of five. Here's a photo of the set:

I guess search terms would be "Tchibo Spritztiere" or "TCM Spritztiere"

And doing a quick look...it appears that a Psephurus figure may belong in the extinct figures column now (if there were any made). None have been located since 2003.

It seems so, sadly. Same location, probably same reasons (e.g. Three Gorges Dam among others), and very likely same fate as that of the Baiji.

[Jetoar]

UOoh this collection have the King Sun fish  .

[sbell]

Well, maybe they'll show up someday...

But now--Bonytongues!

These are mainly represented by the Osteoglossiformes, primarily Asian Arowana Scleropages formosus and Pirarucu Arapaima gigas.  There is one little oddity that I have. And I know that Kaiyodo Aqualand made a Silver Arowana Osteoglossum bicirrhosum that I didn't know until recently existed, but would very much like to hunt down.

As an order, however, it is much broader--Freshwater butterflyfish Pantodon bucholzi (only Pantodontid), Elephant fish (Mormyridae), Featherfin Knifefish (Notopteridae) and the Aba Gymnarchus niloticus (only Gymnarchid).  As far as I know, none of these families is represented as figures. This is odd as many are popular in aquariums (despite how inappropriate some of them are...), especially in Asia.  As far as I know. I want people to not only prove me wrong, but help me find them!

I mean, come on, two of those families are electric! Yet, ironically(?), the knifefish are not; but a different family of fish called knifefish is electric...small digression...anyway (and they might even fit in this thread too, since they hail from the Cretaceous and have one, pretty famous relative with a figure).

Now the pictures--and I know for a fact that, even discounting the paper models that I don't have the patience for, there are several of the Scleropgaes and probably the Arapaima that I don't have. They are certainly among the more popular of the 'ancient fish' in Japanese figures (nobody else makes them...again, that I know of, and again with the one exception).

First, Asian Arowana (there are a lot of colour forms/breeds, but I don't always know them, feel free to point them out):

Yujin Freshwater Fishes Series I secret figure


Colorata Fossil Fishes:
Original


Newer version:


Toba Aquarium Series II


Marmit 'World of Tropical Fish' Special figure; Yellow-Tail variety (sometimes I know!)


Pirarucu:

Epoch 'Living Fossil Collection' (missing its peg & base, but I do have one...)


Colorata Fossil Fishes:
Original


Newer version:


Toba Aquarium Series II


And finally, because we can always count on Yowies to let Australia represent, a Spotted Saratoga Scleropages leichardti from Series 5



Not exactly to the standards of the Japanese figures, but at least it was made!

So now, add the ones you have. It gives me something to look for!

[Varanus]

Impressive ancient fish collection Sbell!

[sbell]

Impressive ancient fish collection Sbell!

They have probably been my real passion since I was 12 or so--if I stuck to them, and only them. I would have a very small collection!

And you can't imagine how it was for a 12 year old that just really wanted a bichir figure!  I didn't get one until I was 30!

Of course, in those days sharks were hard enough to get as decent toys. Oddball fish were never going to happen (other than that MPC set that, without the internet, I wouldn't have known about). So I kept live ones instead!

[brontodocus]

Now the pictures--and I know for a fact that, even discounting the paper models that I don't have the patience for, there are several of the Scleropgaes and probably the Arapaima that I don't have. They are certainly among the more popular of the 'ancient fish' in Japanese figures (nobody else makes them...again, that I know of, and again with the one exception).

First, Asian Arowana (there are a lot of colour forms/breeds, but I don't always know them, feel free to point them out):

It's no wonder it had to be Scleropages to be probably the best represented among them since it's very popular in China and considered a luck bringing animal.
Pouyaud et al. (2003) splitted the different morphotypes of S. formosus into distinct species, but I'm not sure about the general acceptance of this, at least fishbase treats them as separate species. They are identified by colour but also by body and head proportions (maxillary length, head width and height versus length, distances between pelvic and anal fins and length of anal fin and the like). The KeiCraft paper model shown above, as well as the Yujin and the newer Colorata may or may not be identified as S. legendrei, the version 1 Colorata as S. aureus, the Marmit may be S. macrocephalus. Although this is just regarding their colour, I have not checked head/body proportions of the ones I have.

Oh, while we were talking about paddlefish and paper models, there is a free (and obviously very simple) kit of Polyodon spathula, too. Haven't made one, yet, but should not take longer than half han hour or so.

I'm also a little puzzled why there's (probably) no knifefish figure, yet, at least Notopterus chitala is so distinctive and popular, but mainly because it's used as food, I've seen them in Asian food markets, too... in the fridge! _{BTW, some 20 years ago I've also seen frozen Australian lungfish Neoceratodus forsteri in an Asian market in Paris and was wondering how this could be legal, an appendix II species from Australia? Don't know if there are commercial farms that succesfully breed them.}

[sbell]

Now the pictures--and I know for a fact that, even discounting the paper models that I don't have the patience for, there are several of the Scleropgaes and probably the Arapaima that I don't have. They are certainly among the more popular of the 'ancient fish' in Japanese figures (nobody else makes them...again, that I know of, and again with the one exception).

First, Asian Arowana (there are a lot of colour forms/breeds, but I don't always know them, feel free to point them out):

It's no wonder it had to be Scleropages to be probably the best represented among them since it's very popular in China and considered a luck bringing animal.
Pouyaud et al. (2003) splitted the different morphotypes of S. formosus into distinct species, but I'm not sure about the general acceptance of this, at least fishbase treats them as separate species. They are identified by colour but also by body and head proportions (maxillary length, head width and height versus length, distances between pelvic and anal fins and length of anal fin and the like). The KeiCraft paper model shown above, as well as the Yujin and the newer Colorata may or may not be identified as S. legendrei, the version 1 Colorata as S. aureus, the Marmit may be S. macrocephalus. Although this is just regarding their colour, I have not checked head/body proportions of the ones I have.

Oh, while we were talking about paddlefish and paper models, there is a free (and obviously very simple) kit of Polyodon spathula, too. Haven't made one, yet, but should not take longer than half han hour or so.

I'm also a little puzzled why there's (probably) no knifefish figure, yet, at least Notopterus chitala is so distinctive and popular, but mainly because it's used as food, I've seen them in Asian food markets, too... in the fridge! _{BTW, some 20 years ago I've also seen frozen Australian lungfish Neoceratodus forsteri in an Asian market in Paris and was wondering how this could be legal, an appendix II species from Australia? Don't know if there are commercial farms that succesfully breed them.}

That's what I thought--at least the fish that they associate with a lot should be a figure by now, and yet I've never seen ones like knifefish! On the other hand, it took until this past year to get a famous one like an electric eel, so who knows how they make decisions.

And I was not aware of the formosus splits.  I tend not to follow things like that too much, especially when they are based on color or small variations. And given that the figures aren't likely to be that distinctive other than through color, I'm not inclined to figure out which ones fit where.

[brontodocus]

And thinking of species that are used as food, isn't it a bit unfair? I mean, gashapon companies make tons of sets like noodle soups, sweets, candy, sushi and what not as figures... I never understood that, but I guess there is a market for that.

[sbell]

And thinking of species that are used as food, isn't it a bit unfair? I mean, gashapon companies make tons of sets like noodle soups, sweets, candy, sushi and what not as figures... I never understood that, but I guess there is a market for that.

I've seen that too--and there are some sets based on food fish no less (I think they are those weird straps).