| Amatitlania - convict cichlids |
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Schmitter-Soto (2007) described the genus Amatitlania for a group of species that were formally known as convict cichlids. Schmitter-Soto recognizes four species: A. nigrofasciata (type species, occurring in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras), A. coatepeque (endemic to Lago coatepeque, El Salvador), A. siquia (occurring from Honduras south to Costa Rica), and A. kanna. Based on the publications, the exact distribution is not quite clear to me yet.
The differentiation of the different species based on living specimens does not seem to be straightforward, since the diagnoses of the species include internal morphological traits and scale counts. The only readily visible key traits include the development of the stripe between snout and eye (which is at least partially mood dependent), the location of the spot on the caudal peduncle, and the ratio of body height vs. body length. Identifying your convict cichlid without knowing its original collection site and without dissecting it, is likely not going to be 100% accurate.
As far as I can say so far (without dissecting), the convict form known as "Honduran Red Point" keys out as A. siquia. I am not aware that A. coatepeque is currently available in the hobby, all other species are. Below some pictures of the newly described forms.
Literature Schmitter-Soto, J. J. (2007): A systematic revision of the genus Archocentrus (Perciformes: Cichlidae), with the description of two new genera and six new species. Zootaxa 1603: 1-78. |
| Last Updated on Wednesday, 12 August 2009 05:22 |

