''Paretroplus'' is a genus of fishes in the cichlid family, all of which are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

to lakes and rivers of

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 ...

. The vast majority are threatened and restricted to the northwestern part of the island.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 Only '' P. polyactis'' is found in the southern half of Madagascar and only ''P. polyactis'' and '' P. gymnopreopercularis'' are found in eastern drainages.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. Most are restricted to freshwater, but at least ''P. polyactis'' and '' P. maromandia'' can also be seen in brackish habitats. They are more closely related to the genus '' Etroplus'' from

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

than they are to other cichlids from Madagascar (subfamilies Paratilapiinae and Ptychochrominae). Their maximum length varies greatly depending on the exact species, ranging from in '' P. kieneri'' and '' P. gymnopreopercularis'' to almost in '' P. damii''. ''Paretroplus'' includes both relatively slender-bodied species (''P. damii'', ''P. gymnopreopercularis'', ''P. kieneri'', '' P. lamenabe'', '' P. loisellei'', '' P. nourissati'' and '' P. tsimoly'') and relatively deep-bodied species (all remaining).

Species

There are currently 13 recognized species in this genus. Additionally, an undescribed species from the ''P. damii''–''loisellei'' species group is known from the Ankofia River basin in northwestern Madagascar. * '' Paretroplus dambabe''

Sparks Sparks may refer to: Places *Sparks, Georgia * Sparks, Kansas *Sparks, Kentucky *Sparks, Maryland * Sparks, Nebraska *Sparks, Nevada *Sparks, Oklahoma *Sparks, Texas * Sparks, Bell County, Texas * Sparks, West Virginia Books * ''Sparks'' (Raffi ...

, 2002 * '' Paretroplus damii'' Bleeker, 1868 * '' Paretroplus gymnopreopercularis''

, 2008 * '' Paretroplus kieneri'' Arnoult, 1960 * '' Paretroplus lamenabe''

, 2008 (Big red cichlid) * '' Paretroplus loisellei''

& Schelly, 2011 * '' Paretroplus maculatus'' Kiener & Maugé, 1966 * '' Paretroplus maromandia''

& Reinthal, 1999 * '' Paretroplus menarambo'' Allgayer, 1996 * '' Paretroplus nourissati'' ( Allgayer, 1998) * '' Paretroplus petiti'' Pellegrin, 1929 * '' Paretroplus polyactis'' Bleeker, 1878 * '' Paretroplus tsimoly'' Stiassny, Chakrabarty & Loiselle, 2001 The genus can be divided into several clades, and one of these includes ''P. lamenabe'', ''P. nourissati'' and ''P. tsimoly'', which have been considered worthy of placement in their own genus ''Lamena'' (still used in their common names). On a higher level these three are part of a clade that also includes ''P. damii'' and ''P. loisellei''.

References

Etroplinae Cichlid fish of Africa * Freshwater fish genera Cichlid genera Taxa named by Pieter Bleeker Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Cichlidae-stub