Australoheros

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Australoheros
The Chanchito (Australoheros facetus), the type species

The Chanchito ( Australoheros facetus ), the type species

Systematics
Ovalentaria
Order : Cichliformes
Family : Cichlids (Cichlidae)
Subfamily : Cichlinae
Tribe : Heroini
Genre : Australoheros
Scientific name
Australoheros
Rícan & Kullander , 2006

Australoheros is a genus of cichlid that occurs in southern South America in the river basins of Río Paraná , Río Paraguay and Río Uruguay . To the west their distribution area extends to the eastern foothills of the Andes , to the east to small coastal rivers on the Atlantic coast of southern Brazil and Uruguay . This makes Australoheros the most southern species of cichlid, which the name refers to ( Latin : "australis" = south + hero ). Only Crenicichla scottii from the genus of the comb cichlids lives just as far south.

features

Australoheros species have a relatively stocky body, are 7 to 20 cm long and show a pattern with a dark spot in the middle of the body sides, vertical stripes, an interrupted longitudinal stripe and a spot on the tail stalk. Young fish have characteristic yellow spots on the base of the caudal fin. The dorsal fin is supported by 15 to 17 hard and 8 to 12 soft rays, the anal fin has 5 to 10 hard rays and 6 to 9 soft rays in 11 to 14 pterygiophores (fin carriers). The pectoral fins have 12 to 15 fin rays. The pelvic fins start behind the base of the pectoral fin. Australoheros species have comb scales . They are not much smaller on the head and chest than on the sides of the body. The upper lateral line extends over 15 to 19 scales, the lower over 7 to 11. The lower lateral line extends with one or two scales down to the caudal fin. There are 3 to 5 scales between the upper lateral line and the anterior dorsal fin base, and two between the two lateral lines. The "cheeks" are provided with 3 to 4 rows of scales. There are 16 scales around the tail stalk. The pectoral and pelvic fins are scaly, the soft-radiated areas of the dorsal and anal fin are partially scaled in some species, not in others. The caudal fin is densely scaled. The scales stand in a row between the fin rays. On the upper section (epibranchial) of the first gill arch there are two to eight gill rakes and 5 to 17 below. Australoheros species have 13 abdominal vertebrae and 13 to 14, in rare cases 15 tail vertebrae.

species

The genus Australoheros currently consists of 29 species, most of which were only described after the genus was introduced in 2006. Before that, the four previously described species belonged to the genus Cichlasoma and formed the Cichlasoma facetus species group there.

literature

Web links

Commons : Australoheros  - collection of images, videos and audio files