Astronotus

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Astronotus
Peacock cichlid (Astronotus ocellatus)

Peacock cichlid ( Astronotus ocellatus )

Systematics
Ovalentaria
Order : Cichliformes
Family : Cichlids (Cichlidae)
Subfamily : Cichlinae
Tribe : Astronotini
Genre : Astronotus
Scientific name of the  tribe
Astronotini
Fernández-Yépez , 1951
Scientific name of the  genus
Astronotus
Swainson , 1839

Astronotus is a genus of large cichlids from tropical South America . The scientific generic name refers to the brightly bordered spots on the top ( size : "astron" = star + "notos" = back). The two species of the genus occur in the Amazon basin and in the upper catchment area of Río Paraná and Río Paraguay .

features

Astronotus species are 25 to 45 centimeters long and have an elongated-oval body that is only moderately flattened on the sides. The thick-lipped mouth is slanted, the lower jaw protrudes. The upper lip overlaps the rear edge of the lower lip at the corner of the mouth. This lip type ("African-type") is characteristic of African cichlids and unusual for New World cichlids (subfamily Cichlinae ). In both jaws the front three or four pairs of teeth are larger than the two, and in the lower jaw also three rows of teeth behind them. All jaw teeth in the outer row are squat and conical. The gill skeleton is compact, the gill rake large and provided with numerous thorns. The dorsal and anal fins are rounded and the base of their soft-radiating section is strongly scaled. Only the pelvic fins are pointed. Astronotus species have a dark brown to gray-brown basic color.

Astronotus species are substrate spawners and form a father-mother family in which the female first cares for the brood alone, while the male defends the territory.

species

A few other described species ( A. rubroocellatus (Jardine, 1843) , A. zebra Pellegrin, 1903 ) have been synonymous with Astronotus ocellatus . The species delimitation within the genus is controversial and is based on the coloration and meristic determination criteria, which, however, are very variable or overlap between the populations. There are probably other, so far morphologically indistinguishable species within the genus.

literature

  • Horst Linke, Wolfgang Staek: American cichlids II, large cichlids. Tetra-Verlag, Bissendorf 1997, ISBN 3-89745-101-8 , pages 87-88.
  • Rainer Stawikowski and Uwe Werner: Die Buntbarsche Amerikas, Vol. 1 Verlag Eugen Ulmer, 1998, ISBN 978-3-8001-7270-2

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Olavo Pinhatti Colatreli, Natasha Verdasca Meliciano, Daniel Toffoli, Izeni Pires Farias, Tomas Hrbek (2012): Deep Phylogenetic Divergence and Lack of Taxonomic Concordance in Species of Astronotus (Cichlidae). International Journal of Evolutionary Biology Volume 2012, Article ID 915265, 8 pages. doi : 10.1155 / 2012/915265

Web links

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