Open Access PDF - Sven Kullander
Open Access PDF - Sven Kullander
Open Access PDF - Sven Kullander
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388<br />
in large adults. Species with an abbreviated lateral<br />
band include C. kelberi, C. monoculus, C. ocellaris,<br />
C. orinocensis, and C. pleiozona. In these species,<br />
the band fades away before or at about 100 mm<br />
SL. In the smallest specimen of C. pleiozona<br />
(109 mm SL, Fig. 33), the caudal peduncle band<br />
is about to fade away. Juveniles of C. nigromaculata<br />
have not been available.<br />
In the smallest specimens available, about<br />
20-30 mm SL, the lateral band is present along<br />
with blotches 1 and 3, and the lateral band is more<br />
intense caudally in C. temensis (Fig. 81), but only<br />
blotches 1 and 3, and the caudal portion of the<br />
lateral band is present in C. orinocensis (Fig. 10),<br />
and C. kelberi (Fig. 28). Blotch 2 is absent or rudimentary.<br />
Small juveniles available to us were<br />
generally not purposefully preserved, and since<br />
the diagnostically helpful scale count cannot be<br />
used at least not without damaging the specimen,<br />
identification relies to some extent on presence<br />
of larger specimens from the same collecting event<br />
or site. Although it appears that there is a difference<br />
between species with complete or abbreviated<br />
band already at very small sizes, the material<br />
at hand is insufficient for conclusions. Specimens<br />
40-60 mm SL are available of most species.<br />
At this size the two different juvenile colour patterns<br />
are clearly demonstrable and includes a<br />
recognizable blotch 2. The abbreviated lateral<br />
band is, however, reflected in species with a<br />
complete band, in which it may appear as a caudal<br />
intensification of the lateral band (e.g., Fig.<br />
81).<br />
Small juveniles of Crenicichla (10-19 mm SL)<br />
display a continuous black band from snout to<br />
caudal fin, but no blotches or vertical bars. In<br />
Crenicichla, the lateral band is retained into the<br />
adult stage in many species, but is commonly lost<br />
in adults of the larger species. Several species of<br />
Crenicichla are vertically barred as adult, but there<br />
is no information about early colouration ontogeny<br />
in those species. A juvenile, 21.6 mm SL of<br />
C. semifasciata, a species with a series of blotches<br />
along the middle of the side as adult, has a nearcontinuous<br />
lateral band. We have not been able<br />
to examine juvenile Teleocichla, a genus closely<br />
related to Crenicichla.<br />
Adult colour pattern. In juveniles of all species<br />
there is some dark pigment in a band from the<br />
orbit caudad to the margin of the gill cover, much<br />
less intense in species with abbreviated juvenile<br />
lateral band than in species with complete lat-<br />
eral band. In adults, only C. temensis retains this<br />
postorbital band, whereas it is absent from<br />
C. kelberi, C. monoculus, and C. pleiozona, and either<br />
absent or represented by a few scattered small<br />
black spots in C. ocellaris and C. orinocensis, and<br />
probably in C. nigromaculata. It is represented by<br />
a few large, usually ocellated blotches in C. intermedia,<br />
C. jariina, C. pinima, C. piquiti, C. thyrorus,<br />
and C. vazzoleri, and usually associated with a<br />
few similar blotches on the opercle, but in C. melaniae<br />
and C. mirianae the postorbital blotches are<br />
notably minute. In adults, a black marking may<br />
be present on the anterodorsal process of the<br />
preopercle, either round or extended as a short<br />
stripe. This marking was observed only in C. intermedia,<br />
C. jariina, C. mirianae, C. thyrorus, and<br />
C. vazzoleri, and variably in C. pinima.<br />
Several species with complete juvenile lateral<br />
band share a common pattern of relatively regular<br />
horizontal rows of light spots, including two<br />
rows marginal to the lateral band, and one more<br />
dorsal and one more ventral, viz. C. jariina,<br />
C. pinima, C. temensis, C. thyrorus, and C. vazzoleri.<br />
Among those species, the rows are most neatly<br />
linear in C. temensis, but commonly include irregularities<br />
in the other species. In C. melaniae,<br />
and C. mirianae there are many scattered small<br />
spots on the side. In C. piquiti these spots may be<br />
absent, although young specimens possess light<br />
margins to the lateral band. In remaining species<br />
of Cichla a pattern of distinct light spots never<br />
shows; however, a very dense mottling by small<br />
light spots has been observed in at least some<br />
specimens of C. kelberi, C. monoculus, C. ocellaris,<br />
C. orinocensis, and C. pleiozona, apparently producing<br />
a golden sheen to the side in living specimens<br />
(Figs. 9, 26).<br />
Each species of Cichla possesses a distinctive<br />
adult colour pattern, which is more contrast rich<br />
in males, and in most species includes large black<br />
blotches on the side lined with silver or golden.<br />
These ocellar markings derive from vertical bars<br />
and are believed, in the absence of systematic<br />
gonadal or field behavious surveys, to represent<br />
breeding markings. The only exceptional species<br />
may be C. piquiti. In C. kelberi, C. monoculus, and<br />
C. pleiozona, the breeding colouration is dominated<br />
by intensified blotch-like dorsal portions<br />
of the vertical bars best exemplified by Fig. 26,<br />
see also Figs. 27, 32, 36). In C. ocellaris and C. nigromaculata<br />
there may be dorsal blotches (Figs. 8,<br />
22), but other specimens of C. ocellaris possess<br />
ocellated markings retracing portions of the bars<br />
<strong>Kullander</strong> & Ferreira: Review of Cichla