The popular aquarium fish the clown loach is just one of many fantastic animals originating in Indonesia? The origin of the clownloach, Chromobotia macracanthus, is the inland waters of Sumatra and Borneo two of the largest islands in Indonesia. Hailing from fast moving waters the clown loach prefers aquariums with a lot of current.
Indonesia is part of both Asia and Oceania. It is comprised of over 17,500 islands of which roughly 6,000 are inhabited by man. You probably recognize the names of the five largest islands: Java, Sumatra, Borneo, New Guinea and Sulawesi. Borneo is shared with Malaysia and Brunei and the name Kalimantan is used when referring to just the Indonesian part of the island. New Guinea is shared with Papua New Guinea.
Indonesia has two distinct monsoonal wet and dry seasons, with the mountains receiving the largest amounts of rainfall. The avarge temperature varies from area to area both is usually between 26-30C/79-86F during the day.
Indonesia has the worlds second highest biodiversity after Brazil. The biodiversity is in part due to the fact that the Asian and the Australian Faune meet in Indonesia. 40% of all mammals in Indonesia are endemic to the area and so are a lot of plant, fish, bird and insect species.
Indonesia is located where the tectonic plates of Australia, Euroasia and the Pacific meets, which make it prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Indonesia is home to 150 active vulcano among which the most famous are Krakatoa and Tambora who both have had devestating eruptions during the 19th century. There is a positive side the the vulcanos however and that is that it is nutrient rich vulcanic ash from the vulcanos that allow the rich plant life in the region.
Sumatra, Borneo and Java is known as Sunduland and have similar characteristics with the nearby Asian mainland. The lakes, rivers and swamps of this region are home to roughly 1,000 scientifically described species of fish of which nearly 200 were discovered during the last decade.
The island Sulawesi and the Maluku archipelago in known as Wallacea and is located between Sundaland and the Australian zone to the east. Some of the Nusa Tenggara islands are also considered parts of Wallacea. Over 300 species of fish has been described from the Wallacean waters out of which nearly 25% are endemic. There are for instance seven endemic goby species and two endemic species of halfbeak living in South Sulawesi. The Maluku archipelago and Nusa Tenggara is still far from thoroughly explored by science so you can expect to add many new endemic species to the list during coming years.