''Heros severus'' (previously known as ''

Cichlasoma ''Cichlasoma'' is a genus of freshwater fish in the cichlid family. The genus was previously very large (a wastebasket taxon), including cichlids from North America, including Central America, and South America. Reclassification and subsequent s ...

severum''), is a species of tropical freshwater

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 ...

native to the upper

Orinoco The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...

and upper Rio Negro basins in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

. It has historically been confused with several other species in the genus, most recently '' H. liberifer''.Leibel, W. (2016). The mouthbrooding Severum has a name! (And it’s not Heros severus). Cichlid News Magazine 25(1): 23-26. This species is rarely found in the

aquarium An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...

trade. The species in the aquarium trade that is rather the more common '' Heros efasciatus''. ''Heros severus'' was first identified in 1840, but it was misidentified for many years. Until 2015 ''Heros severus'' was thought to be the mouth brooder that was in the aquarium trade. Originally in 1840 the ''H. severus'' was characterised as having a partially formed 7th band, but the identification was dismissed as an anomaly in the collected fish. in 2015 the true ''Heros severus'' was discovered, and had the tell tale partial 7th band that was described in 1840, this was known for a short time has ''Heros sp. Curare' or Tiger severum until officially named as the true severus. The mouthbrooder who previously was thought to be ''Heros severus'' was classified as ''Heros liberifer'' by Staeck, Wolfgang & I. Schindler.

References

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q2467573 Banded cichlid Fish described in 1840 Taxa named by Johann Jakob Heckel