The damba (''Paretroplus damii'') is a species of

cichlid Cichlids are fish from the family Cichlidae in the order Cichliformes. Cichlids were traditionally classed in a suborder, the Labroidei, along with the wrasses ( Labridae), in the order Perciformes, but molecular studies have contradicted this ...

Etymology

The genus name ''Paretroplus'' is composed by the Greek ''Para'' (meaning ''similar to'') and ''Etroplus'' (a closely related genus of Indian cichlids). The Latin species name ''damii'' honors the naturalist

Douwe Casparus van Dam Douwe or Douw is a Dutch given name of West Frisian origin and probably meaning "dove" (Frisian:''dou'').Douwe
at the < ...

(1827-1898).

Description

''P. damii'' is the largest ''

Paretroplus ''Paretroplus'' is a genus of fishes in the cichlid family, all of which are endemic to lakes and rivers of Madagascar. The vast majority are threatened and restricted to the northwestern part of the island.Sparks, J. S. (2008). ''Phylogeny of t ...

'', reaching the total length of about . No sexual dimorphism exists in size or in other characteristics. These fishes have a rounded shape, with a light pink / grey colouration in absence of vertical barring.

Distribution

This species can be found in several river basins in northwestern

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

.Sparks, J. S. and Schelly, R. C. (2011). ''A new species of Paretroplus (Teleostei: Cichlidae: Etroplinae) from northeastern Madagascar, with a phylogeny and revised diagnosis for the P. damii clade.'' Zootaxa 2768: 55–68. This includes populations in far northern Madagascar that some have speculated represented an

undescribed species In taxonomy, an undescribed taxon is a taxon (for example, a species) that has been discovered, but not yet formally described and named. The various Nomenclature Codes specify the requirements for a new taxon to be validly described and named. U ...

, but a comparison of specimens did not support this, instead maintaining them as part of ''P. damii''.Sparks, J. S. (2008). ''Phylogeny of the Cichlid Subfamily Etroplinae and Taxonomic Revision of the Malagasy Cichlid Genus Paretroplus (Teleostei: Cichlidae).'' Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History Number 314 :1-151 In contrast, populations in the Mahanara River in northeastern Madagascar were formerly also included in ''P. damii'', but these were described as a separate species, '' P. loisellei'', in 2011, and populations in the Ankofia River basin in northwestern Madagascar (south of true ''P. damii'') appear to represent a closely related undescribed species.

Bibliography

* Eschmeyer, William N., ed. 1998. Catalog of Fishes. Special Publication of the Center for Biodiversity Research and Information, núm. 1, vol. 1–3. California Academy of Sciences. San Francisco,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, United States. 2905. . * Fenner, Robert M.: ''The Conscientious Marine Aquarist''. Neptune City,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, USA : T.F.H. Publications, 2001. * Helfman, G., B. Collette y D. Facey: ''The diversity of fishes''. Blackwell Science, Malden, Massachusetts, USA, 1997. * Hoese, D.F. 1986: . A M.M. Smith y P.C. Heemstra (eds.) Smiths' sea fishes. Springer-Verlag,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, Germany. * Maugé, L.A. 1986. A J. Daget, J.-P. Gosse y D.F.E. Thys van den Audenaerde (eds.) Check-list of the freshwater fishes of Africa (CLOFFA). ISNB,

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

; MRAC,

Tervuren Tervuren () is a municipality in the province of Flemish Brabant, in Flanders, Belgium. The municipality comprises the villages of Duisburg, Tervuren, Vossem and Moorsel. On January 1, 2006, Tervuren had a total population of 20,636. The total a ...

; y ORSTOM,

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Vol. 2. * Moyle, P. y J. Cech.: ''Fishes: An Introduction to Ichthyology'', 4th. Ed., Upper Saddle River,

, USA: Prentice-Hall. * Nelson, J.: ''

Fishes of the World ''Fishes of the World'' by the American ichthyologist Joseph S. Nelson (1937–2011) is a standard reference for fish systematics. Now in its fifth edition (2016), the work is a comprehensive overview of the diversity and classification of the ...

'', 3rd. ed..

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, USA: John Wiley and Sons. * Wheeler, A.: ''The World Encyclopedia of Fishes'', 2nd. Ed,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

: Macdonald.

References

External links

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Damba The damba (''Paretroplus damii'') is a species of cichlid. Etymology The genus name ''Paretroplus'' is composed by the Greek ''Para'' (meaning ''similar to'') and ''Etroplus'' (a closely related genus of Indian cichlids). The Latin species nam ...

Freshwater fish of Madagascar Fish described in 1868 Taxa named by Pieter Bleeker Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Cichlidae-stub