Cyathopharynx furcifer
| Cyathopharynx furcifer | ||||||||||||
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Cyathopharynx furcifer in an aquarium at Leipzig Zoo . |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Cyathopharynx | ||||||||||||
| Regan , 1920 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Cyathopharynx furcifer | ||||||||||||
| ( Boulenger , 1898) |
Cyathopharynx furcifer is a species of cichlid that is endemic to the East African Lake Tanganyika, where it is widespread and common.
features
The fish have a relatively high-backed and laterally flattened body, they are about 21 cm long. Depending on the region and mood, the males are iridescent dark or sky blue, rusty brown, blackish or emerald green. The front rays of their pelvic fins are elongated, the thickenings at the ends are yellow-orange. The females are gray to silvery in color, have a few narrow dark stripes on the sides of the body and colorless, transparent fins. The mouth is terminal. The jaws are covered with three to five rows of teeth. The jaw teeth are three-pointed in young fish and conical in older fish. The teeth of the outer row of teeth point outwards to catch plankton. The pharyngeal teeth are thin and close together in a round arrangement. The caudal fin is forked and the outer rays are long drawn out in the males.
- Fins formula : dorsal XII – XV / 13–15, anal III / 8–10.
- Scale formula : mLR 48–64.
- Gill rake 15–18.
Way of life
Cyathopharynx furcifer is a swarm-forming plankton eater that lives near steep cliffs down to a depth of 25 meters. The fish are mouthbrooders . To lay their eggs, the males usually build a sand crater on top of a large rock (“penthouse” nest). After egg-laying and fertilization, the female takes the eggs into her mouth, later also young fish up to a size of about 1.7 cm.
Systematics
The species was described as Paratilapia furcifer in 1898 by the Belgian-British zoologist George Albert Boulenger and placed in the genus Cyathopharynx by the British ichthyologist Charles Tate Regan in 1906 . In the south of Lake Tanganyika, however, there are two color morphs, one with a yellow and one with a black anal fin . The two morphs can also be genetically clearly differentiated from one another and possibly represent two species. The black- finned form could be the species described by the French ichthyologist Léon Vaillant in 1899 as Ectodus foae , which was later synonymous with Cyathopharynx furcifer . Since the holotype is a small, colorless fish, only genetic testing can provide certainty. Should the black-finned form become an independent species and it is proven that it is identical to the holotype of Ectodus foae , the new species would be named Cyathopharynx foae .
literature
- Pierre Brichard: The Big Book of Tanganyika Cichlids. With all the other fish on Lake Tanganyika. Bede Verlag, 1995, ISBN 978-3927997943 . Pages 272, 289-290.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Tetsumi Takahashi & Michio Hori (2012). Genetic and Morphological Evidence Implies Existence of Two Sympatric Species in Cyathopharynx furcifer (Teleostei: Cichlidae) from Lake Tanganyika. International Journal of Evolutionary Biology, Volume 2012 (2012), doi: 10.1155 / 2012/980879
Web links
- Cyathopharynx furcifer on Fishbase.org (English)