The Myth of the “Fine Spot” Azureus
A unique specimen from the Wattley line. This specimen is only F2 from the wild caught founder generation.
Photo courtesy of Julio Rodriguez.
As in any part of the dart frog hobby there are numerous myths cemented into the brains of hobbyists as “facts” - i.e. dogma. There is none greater myth than the assertion that “fine spot” or “sky blue” Azureus are somehow unnatural and could only have been conceived through linebreeding. The Wattley line, credited to a discus breeder that imported this locale in the mid 1990’s, is caught in the grips of these assertions as well. As to any story, there is more than one side to this story.
Let’s tackle some myths…
“Fine spot Azureus is a purely linebred trait.”
FALSE
“Sky blue Azureus is a purely linebred trait.”
Sort of… but still FALSE
“Jack Wattley is known for linebreeding with discus, therefore the Wattley line must be the result of linebreeding.”
Once again, FALSE
“An Azureus that lacks spots is unnatural.”
Absolutely and undeniably FALSE
So what is the difference between “fine spot” and “sky blue” Azureus? Aren’t they the same thing?
First, one needs recognize the terminology and where they came from.
Photo credits to Patrick Nabors
Fine Spot Azureus
Fine spot Azureus is the term used by Patrick Nabors of Saurian Enterprises to describe a particular variation that has reduced black markings while still maintaining smaller but distinct black spots. This form is more common in males and can result from breeding any two ordinary Azureus together, even if both parents have big, black spots. In previous offerings of Azureus from Saurian, “fine spot” Azureus were not sold on a regular basis. This is because Patrick just cherry-picked this particular form out of batches of normal-looking Azureus. Patrick did not purposefully linebreed Azureus to consistently produce them. Fine spot Azureus was the result of picking out the more attractive-looking individuals to command a higher price.
Photo credits to Sean Stewart
Sky Blue Azureus
Sky blue Azureus is the term popularized by Sean Stewart of Herpetologic to represent the form of Azureus that has virtually zero black markings. This form was publicly listed as it’s own form of Azureus as early as 2010. In his advertisements, Sean publicly stated that this line was intentionally linebred to consistently produce Azureus of this phenotype. Sean obtained just three Azureus from the National Aquarium in Baltimore. It is from these specimens that Sean began his selection. While explanations used state that they “have been linebred for 12 years”, that does not mean they have been linebred for 12 generations. The specimen on the right, the last offering of sky blue Azureus from Sean Stewart, is actually only an F4 animal. So even though this line is technically linebred because they have been bred with the intentions to produce more with this phenotype, they are not as inbred as many people have been led to believe.
Wattley Line Azureus
Photo courtesy of Zach Brinks
In 1993, Jack Wattley famously imported Dendrobates azureus from Suriname. Jack Wattley began publicly selling F1 Azureus offspring as early as 1994. Many who obtained the original imported wild-caught specimens recall they looked like the average Azureus with big black markings. This is also what led to the discrepancy and why even many of the older hobbyists today still vehemently deny that the Wattley line is “normal”. The source of the confusion is that after obtaining the wild-caught Azureus, Jack sold the normal specimens to everyone else while keeping all of the reduced-pattern “sky blue” Azureus for himself. Keep in mind that these were wild caught animals. Generally, offspring tend to look like their parents. This is why there is a particular phenotype that has been associated with the Wattley line over time; the foundation of the Wattley line were wild-caught animals that predominantly had this phenotype. One must recognize that it also goes the other way; the foundation of non-Wattley line Azureus were all what are now seen as “normal Azureus” since Jack isolated all of the patternless individuals out of the gene pool. If the patternless Azureus were all separated out from the larger gene pool, no wonder this phenotype is seen as rare and mistaken for “unnatural”. If there is an argument to be made that patternless Azureus are linebred at all, then it must be recognized that it goes both ways. Perhaps, in some ways, “normal” Azureus have been unintentionally linebred to only look like that because of the view that anything else is unnatural.
Another key point to know is Jack was never dedicated to his work with Dendrobatids. Jack’s main passion was Discus. The few people who knew Jack back in the day all recall that he lacked drive or dedication to any particular dart frog project. On top of that, Jack was much more interested in his questionable collection of large obligate egg feeders (Oophaga sp.) than he was with his other dart frogs. In summary, he did not linebreed Azureus in the traditional sense. Jack merely selected the individuals of this phenotype from his wild catch because these were the ones he liked the most, but they were never intentionally inbred and selected for this phenotype for multiple generations. Jack liquidated his dart frog collection between 2005 and 2006. Mark Pulawski who worked closely with Jack Wattley in the early years says that he only “sold F1 offspring for a few years.”
Is an Azureus that lacks spots unnatural?
Absolutely not! To fully understand and believe that an Azureus without spots is perfectly natural, one might need to go to Suriname to witness wild Azureus for themselves. But many people have already done that for us, all the way back to when Dr. Hoogmoed first described Dendrobates azureus in 1970.
According to Jack Cover from the National Aquarium in Baltimore who personally visited the type locality of Azureus in 1998, “I have also seen misinformation from private collectors that Azureus with few spots come from one forest island and ones with a large number of spots occur in another forest island. From my observations, an individual with few spots can be found next to an individual with heavy spotting [in the same forest island]” (personal communication, October 25, 2021).
To put it quite simply, fine spot, sky blue and patternless Azureus are all a part of the natural variation in the wild as the following photos quite obviously illustrate.
Here are 3 different specimens found at the type locality in the western slope of the Vier Gebroeders mountains, spotted on 3 different trips, each a decade or more apart.
First description of Dendrobates azureus in 1970.
Photo courtesy of Dr. Marinus Hoogmoed.
National Aquarium in Baltimore expedition in 1997.
Photo courtesy of Ron Gagliardo.
Expedition by Dutch hobbyists in 2007.
Photo courtesy of Erik Wevers.
