The trondo mainty (''Ptychochromoides betsileanus'') is a critically endangered 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 ...

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 elsew ...

to the Onilahy River Basin in southwestern

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 ...

. Its remaining range covers less than and it is highly threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

, fishing, and competition with/predation by

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...

. Another cichlid from the same basin, ''

Ptychochromis onilahy ''Ptychochromis onilahy'' is a species of cichlid endemic to the Onilahy River in southwestern Madagascar. Despite several recent visits to the region, this species has not been recorded since 1962 when the only known five specimens were collec ...

'', is probably already

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

.Stiassny, M., and Sparks, J. S. (2006). ''Phylogeny and Taxonomic Revision of the Endemic Malagasy Genus Ptychochromis (Teleostei: Cichlidae), with the Description of Five New Species and a Diagnosis for Katria, New Genus.''

American Museum Novitates ''American Museum Novitates'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Museum of Natural History. It was established in 1921. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the journal has a 2013 impact factor The impact f ...

3535. The trondo mainty reaches a

standard length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology. Overall length * Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish m ...

(SL) of .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trondo Mainty

Trondo mainty The trondo mainty (''Ptychochromoides betsileanus'') is a critically endangered species of cichlid endemic to the Onilahy River Basin in southwestern Madagascar. Its remaining range covers less than and it is highly threatened by habitat loss, ...

Freshwater fish of Madagascar Fish described in 1899 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Endemic fauna of Madagascar