I've been trying to find info on this fish. It looks like a blind, sort-of-irridescent shark kinda thing. Supposedly eats live food and nips most anything. We've got one for sale right now and I have no idea how big it gets or any other info. 
What is a blue dolphin shark?
- Thread starter KateA.
- Start date
Doesn't the distributor use the scientific name?
"Blue Dolphin Shark" isn't an authentic "common name," but a made-up "fancy name" invented by the wholesaler. A www.google.com search, which usually dredges up the real name, got nothing with this moniker.
"Blue Dolphin Shark" isn't an authentic "common name," but a made-up "fancy name" invented by the wholesaler. A www.google.com search, which usually dredges up the real name, got nothing with this moniker.
My pet peeve with fish.. or the LFS's is how ten names get thrown on the same fish, even with scientific names, a species may or may not go about a variety of them, of course this depends on who you ask.
Anyway's I've never heard of this Blue Dolphin Shark, however if you say it's looke similiar to an Iridescent Shark
Try searches on
Pangasius Catfish
Pangasius Pangasius
Paroon Sharks
Black-Fin Sharks/Columbian Shark
Berney's Shark Catfish/Australian Shark Catfish
Lots, and I mean lots of catfish are out there, that somewhat resemble "marine" sharks. Most of these kinds of fish, outgrow home aquariums, however some are be able to kept in 100 gallon tanks or less.
Also a note about the Paroon Shark(which I think looks most like a shark out all catfish during it's subadult stage), if that turns out to be your interesting looking catfish, the common Pangasius sanitswongi, they get huge, some say anywhere from 3-6 feet. However, some people also there's smaller very very similiar subspecies. Planet Catfish said there's been a smaller hybrid of the Paroon Shark in order (well they said artificial) to keep down it's low size and keep it's attracting looks. None of these I can seem to get confirmed, so who knows. I've included some pictures of these guys, as junveniles, very small adults.
Good places to look:
Here at AquariaCentral.Com Check out some of the species profiles of the above catfish.
Planetcatfish.com has a good resource and picture library.
Scotcat.com is also good, but I find there site kind of hard to navigate, but still very good.
Hopefully this will help you find what your looking for.
Anyway's I've never heard of this Blue Dolphin Shark, however if you say it's looke similiar to an Iridescent Shark
Try searches on
Pangasius Catfish
Pangasius Pangasius
Paroon Sharks
Black-Fin Sharks/Columbian Shark
Berney's Shark Catfish/Australian Shark Catfish
Lots, and I mean lots of catfish are out there, that somewhat resemble "marine" sharks. Most of these kinds of fish, outgrow home aquariums, however some are be able to kept in 100 gallon tanks or less.
Also a note about the Paroon Shark(which I think looks most like a shark out all catfish during it's subadult stage), if that turns out to be your interesting looking catfish, the common Pangasius sanitswongi, they get huge, some say anywhere from 3-6 feet. However, some people also there's smaller very very similiar subspecies. Planet Catfish said there's been a smaller hybrid of the Paroon Shark in order (well they said artificial) to keep down it's low size and keep it's attracting looks. None of these I can seem to get confirmed, so who knows. I've included some pictures of these guys, as junveniles, very small adults.
Good places to look:
Here at AquariaCentral.Com Check out some of the species profiles of the above catfish.
Planetcatfish.com has a good resource and picture library.
Scotcat.com is also good, but I find there site kind of hard to navigate, but still very good.
Hopefully this will help you find what your looking for.
Sometimes the african cichlid, Cyrtocara moori, is referred to as the blue dolphin, but I've never heard of a blue dolphin shark...
Here's a link to a pic of a moori, in case that helps...
http://malawicichlids.com/mw08033.htm
Jim
Here's a link to a pic of a moori, in case that helps...
http://malawicichlids.com/mw08033.htm
Jim
http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?genusname=Coryphaena&speciesname=equiselis
Blue dolphin fish---not an aquarium fish. Nothing comes up in Fish Base for dolphin shark or dolphin minnow. Can you post a pic?
Blue dolphin fish---not an aquarium fish. Nothing comes up in Fish Base for dolphin shark or dolphin minnow. Can you post a pic?
Alot of people up here refer to the irridescent shark as an irridescent dolphin...perhaps your LFS has the albino versions or just a different geographic form.
Thanks for all the help. I will check out some of those catfish sights.
I'm a LFS retailer/manager and I'm thoroughly frustrated with the lack of non-scientific names that are used at the wholesale level. They make up names quite often. It especially frustrates me with the marine fish! I try to tag all fish with the common and scientific name, just so my crew can learn the names correctly. I mean, I get customers spewing off the scientific names and their face goes blank. Well, mine does to sometimes, but sometimes I get a clue in the name somewhere!
I'm afraid this fish will be quite large, this is what the wholesaler told me, but no specifics. And I think it is blind. The eye area is very opaque. And it swims kinda with it's head up higher than the rest of his body. Kinda pale blue with a shark body, front of nose very blunt, no whiskers.
Ah well, I'll keep looking.
I'm a LFS retailer/manager and I'm thoroughly frustrated with the lack of non-scientific names that are used at the wholesale level. They make up names quite often. It especially frustrates me with the marine fish! I try to tag all fish with the common and scientific name, just so my crew can learn the names correctly. I mean, I get customers spewing off the scientific names and their face goes blank. Well, mine does to sometimes, but sometimes I get a clue in the name somewhere!
I'm afraid this fish will be quite large, this is what the wholesaler told me, but no specifics. And I think it is blind. The eye area is very opaque. And it swims kinda with it's head up higher than the rest of his body. Kinda pale blue with a shark body, front of nose very blunt, no whiskers.
Ah well, I'll keep looking.
Cetopsis Catfish
I know nothing about this fish but it fits your description very well. Not a huge fish though. I think they reach around 12-18". They are said to actually "burrow" into larger fish. A real vampire.
This is a rare fish. Same family as the Candiru actually. Look at the Cetopsis coecutiens in the Cetopsidae family at www.planetcatfish.com to check indentification.
I know nothing about this fish but it fits your description very well. Not a huge fish though. I think they reach around 12-18". They are said to actually "burrow" into larger fish. A real vampire.
This is a rare fish. Same family as the Candiru actually. Look at the Cetopsis coecutiens in the Cetopsidae family at www.planetcatfish.com to check indentification.
Thanks! That was it: Cetopsis coecutiens, or Whale Catfish. One site had some laying along side a persons foot for size comparison and another site said 30-35 cm/13"-14". Whew! I'm glad it's not one of those huge monsters! They had the attitude part right, too, and one site said that one had been cut open (in the wild) and it had eaten all sorts of things including fish, bugs and larvae.