''Heterochromis'' is a genus 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 ...
fish in the order
Perciformes. It is the only genus of the subfamily Heterochromidinae, and contains a single species, ''Heterochromis multidens'', which is
endemic to the
Congo River Basin in
Central Africa. The relationships of ''Heterochromis'' to other cichlids have long been controversial, with several morphological features suggesting that it is more closely related to American cichlids than to other African species.
[Kullander SO (1998) A phylogeny and classification of the South American Cichlidae (Teleostei: Perciformes). Pp. 461-498 in Malabarba, L., et al. (eds), Phylogeny and Classification of Neotropical Fishes, Porto Alegre.] Molecular studies have given contradictory results. The most comprehensive analysis done to date found more support for relationship to African cichlids, but could not conclusively reject a relationship to the American clade.
It can reach a total length of . This species is probably a substrate
spawner and in older males a hump may develop on the head.
References
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Cichlid fish of Africa
Fish described in 1900
Monotypic ray-finned fish genera
Monotypic freshwater fish genera
Cichlid genera
Taxa named by Charles Tate Regan
Cichlidae
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