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Branching and Fin Rays By: BettySplendens Submitted: 6/30/2006 Four-ray branching on a plakat male. The longer you stick around the hobby, the more you're going to hear terms like "Eight Ray HM" and "This little beauty branches 4 times!" Being able to identify fin rays and branching on your own will both impress your message board buddies and make it harder for unethical sellers to pull a fast one on you. Rays are usually measured in the caudal (tail) fin, although some bettas have multiple rays in their dorsals and anals as well. Rays are the small bones that run from the base of the tail to the end and hold together the webbing on a fish's tail. Wild bettas normally have a primary ray that branches once, meaning most wild bettas are two ray bettas. Veiltail bettas are also two ray bettas. The modern symmetrical show forms, with their increased caudal span, require more than two rays. I have never seen a HM betta with less than 4 rays, and most of them have more. So the primary (or 1st) ray in a betta's tail branches into two SECONDARY RAYS. In modern types, the secondary rays branch again, into what is called TERTIARY RAYS. A betta whose branching ends with tertiary rays is considered a four ray betta. If the rays branch again it is called QUATERNARY RAYS, and these are considered eight ray bettas. Male HMs commonly have at least 8 rays, but it is a bit more rare in the females. If you find an 8-ray female (sometimes called a "Lady of Eight"), snap her up! She is excellent for breeding purposes with enough rays to produce a high percentage of HM offspring, but not so many that she is likely to produce deformities.

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The longer you stick around the hobby, the more you're going to hear terms like ''Eight Ray HM'' and ''This little beauty branches 4 times!'' Being able to identify fin rays and branching on your own will both impress your message board buddies and make it harder for unethical sellers to pull a fast one on you.


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