''Parachromis managuensis'' is a large species of cichlid native to freshwater habitats in

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

, where it is found from Honduras to Costa Rica. The binomial name refers to

Lake Managua Lake Managua ( es, Lago de Managua, ), also known as Lake Xolotlán (), is a lake in Nicaragua. At 1,042 km², it is approximately long and wide. Similarly to the name of Lake Nicaragua, its other name comes from the Nahuatl language, possi ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...

, from which the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of sever ...

was obtained. It is a

food fish Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is ing ...

and is also found in the aquarium trade where it is variously known as the jaguar cichlid, managuense cichlid, managua cichlid, guapote tigre, Aztec cichlid, spotted guapote and jaguar guapote. In Costa Rica it is known as the ''guapote tigre''.

Description

''P. managuensis'' is a robust fish with a silvery or golden-green to purple colour, with a darker moss green shade at the dorsum. The sides show a purple iridescence and the belly is whitish or yellowish. A series of several large black dots then run horizontally along the lateral line area. The fins are often a dark to black colouration, especially when in

spawning Spawn is the eggs and sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, and the act of both sexes is called spawning. Most aquatic animals, except for aquat ...

colouration. The most distinguished feature is a black stripe than run from the eye to the opercular margin. Males grow to a total length of and females to . The female also lacks the elongated extensions to the dorsal fins.

Ecology

''P. managuensis'' inhabits lakes and prefers turbid waters with mud bottoms and is tolerant to

eutrophic Eutrophication is the process by which an entire body of water, or parts of it, becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. It has also been defined as "nutrient-induced increase in phytoplan ...

and

hypoxic Hypoxia means a lower than normal level of oxygen, and may refer to: Reduced or insufficient oxygen * Hypoxia (environmental), abnormally low oxygen content of the specific environment * Hypoxia (medical), abnormally low level of oxygen in the t ...

conditions. It is a carnivorous, highly predatory species. Adults feed mainly on small fish, while juveniles rely on a variety of

macroinvertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

s. It prefers

turbid Turbidity is the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by large numbers of individual particles that are generally invisible to the naked eye, similar to smoke in air. The measurement of turbidity is a key test of water quality. Fluids can ...

lakes, often found in warm water depleted of oxygen. Its native substrate is mud-bottoms, but it can also be found in ponds and springs with sandy bottoms covered in plant debris. The species inhabits lakes in a

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

climate and prefers water with a 7.0–8.7 pH, a water hardness of 10–15 dGH, and a temperature range of 25 to 36 °C (77 to 97 °F).

Distribution

The natural distribution of ''P. managuensis'' goes from the

Ulúa River The Ulúa River ( es, Río Ulúa, ) is a river in western Honduras. It rises in the central mountainous area of the country close to La Paz and runs approximately due northwards to the east end of the Gulf of Honduras at . En route, it is joine ...

in Honduras to Matina River basin in Costa Rica. However, it has been introduced in other countries in Central America, as well as in the United States, as a food source, for aquarism and to control fish populations.

Conservation status

This species has been assessed by the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

least-concern species A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

. It occurs in the

Maquenque National Wildlife Refuge Maquenque Wildlife Refuge ( es, Refugio de Vida Silvestre Maquenque), is a protected area in Costa Rica, managed under the Arenal Huetar Norte Conservation Area, it was created in 2005 by decree 32405-MINAE. It connects Tortuguero National Park an ...

References

External links