Morphology
Most of the labyrinth fish have developed very similar types of fins as illustrated in Figure 2. In addition many of the Anabantoids exhibit some form of sexual dimorphism either in the form of color and or differences in the finnage. Trichogaster spp. are good examples of finnage dimor- phism. The males dorsal fin is longer than the females and reaches back to the caudal peduncle. The “Dwarf gourami” exhibit color dimorphism. The males display much brighter color as well a wide range of color combinations while the females of any given strain have only a dull silver color. The Betta splendens male exhibit both color and finnage dimorphism. The male has much longer fins than the female and usually has intense body color. The female in contrast has short fins and a very dull color.