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Whether it’s a Burberry cap or our favourite team’s latest away kit, the way we look can speak volumes about where we come from and what groups we identify ourselves with. But fashion aside, appearances can be even more crucial if you’re a tiny Tetra that depends on safety in numbers for its survival.
 
The January Tetra (Hemigrammus hyanuary) hails from the slow moving rivers, tributaries and floodplain lakes of the Amazon basin in Peru and Brazil. At a maximum length of only 4cm, it’s a small, quiet, peaceful species that is shoaling by nature and one that relies on the company of its own kind.
 
Sometimes also known as the Costello Tetra, it sports a fetching greenish-yellow iridescent line laterally along its body, and like many other “flashy” Tetras such as the Cardinal and the Neon, its distinctive markings play a key role in its behaviour. By ensuring that it is easily identifiable to its peers, H. hyanuary’s flashy patterning helps keep the shoal together and thereby protect the entire group. Much like a football uniform then, this tiny fish’s “colours” are about far more than just fashion.