Tail cichlid
| Tail cichlid | ||||||||||||
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Tail spot cichlid ( Mayaheros urophthalmus ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Mayaheros urophthalmus | ||||||||||||
| ( Günther , 1862) |
The tailed cichlid ( Mayaheros urophthalmus ) occurs in Central America in rivers that flow into the Caribbean and in mangrove swamps . The natural range includes southern Mexico ( Tabasco and Yucatán ), Belize , northeast Guatemala , northern Honduras and northeast Nicaragua . After Florida and Singapore , the species was introduced by humans.
features
The tail spot cichlid is one of the larger cichlids and can reach a length of 20 to almost 40 cm. Its body is oval and laterally flattened, its head tapering towards the end mouth. The basic color is yellow-brown to gray-brown in most cases. Between the base of the pectoral fin and the base of the caudal fin, six dark horizontal stripes run over the sides of the body. There is a large, black and blue-green rimmed eye spot on the tail stalk. The caudal fin and the soft-rayed sections of the dorsal and anal fin are usually more or less reddish. The head and throat are reddish, especially in younger fish. Since the distribution area of the species is relatively large, it occurs in different colors, which can differ from the one described above. The color intensity of the horizontal stripes can also be very different. Older males develop a more strongly developed finnage.
Way of life
The tailed cichlid lives in rivers, lakes and swamps, adult fish also in lagoons on the Caribbean coast and tolerate marine water values. The cichlids feed carnivorously on smaller fish and larger invertebrates. They practice brood care, are open brooders and can reproduce in fresh water as well as in brackish water . A clutch contains up to 600 eggs.
Systematics
The cichlid was in 1862 by the German zoologist Albert Günther as Heros urophthalmus described . The type locality is Lake Petén Itzá in Guatemala. The species was later assigned to the genera Nandopsis and Parapetenia , most recently Cichlasoma . During a revision of Cichlasoma by the Swedish ichthyologist Sven O. Kullander , however, the species was separated from Cichlasoma . Since no new generic name was available for this species and a number of other cichlid species that originally belonged to Cichlasoma , the generic name "Cichlasoma" was used in quotation marks for a while. In April 2016, a team of Czech ichthyologists introduced the genus Mayaheros for tailed cichlid and its relatives . The tailed cichlid has been divided into up to 18 subspecies, most of them from the Yucatan Peninsula. Many of these subspecies became independent species with the introduction of the Mayaheros genus , but seven of the new species ( Mayaheros alborum , M. cienagae , M. conchitae , M. mayorum , M. stenozonum , M. troschelii and M. zebra ) became species status revoked two years later.
literature
- Horst Linke, Wolfgang Staek: American cichlids II, large cichlids. Tetra-Verlag, Bissendorf 1997, ISBN 3-89745-101-8 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Sven O. Kullander: Revision of the South American cichlid genus Cichlasoma. Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm 1983.
- ↑ O. Říčan, L. Piálek, K. Dragová, J. Novák: Diversity and evolution of the Middle American cichlid fishes (Teleostei: Cichlidae) with revised classification. In: Vertebrate Zoology. 66 (1), 2016, pp. 1–102 ( PDF ).
- ↑ Barrientos-Villalobos, J., Schmitter-Soto, JJ & Monteros, AJE (2018): Several Subspecies or Phenotypic Plasticity? A Geometric Morphometric and Molecular Analysis of Variability of the Mayan Cichlid Mayaheros urophthalmus in the Yucatan. Copeia, 106 (2): 268-278. DOI: 10.1643 / ci-17-657
Web links
- Mayaheros urophthalmum on Fishbase.org (English)