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.

Cichlasoma
Cichlasoma dimerus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Cichliformes
Family: Cichlidae
Tribe: Cichlasomatini
Genus: Cichlasoma
Swainson, 1839
Type species
Labrus bimaculatus

Reclassification and subsequent splitting of the genus by Sven O. Kullander and other ichthyologists has resulted in removing many of the former species from Cichlasoma to genera such as Amphilophus, Archocentrus, Herichthys, Heros, Nandopsis, Parachromis, Thorichthys, Vieja and others in the tribe Heroini.[1][2]

Species

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According to FishBase, there are currently sixteen recognized species in this genus,[3] but three very different Middle American taxa ("C." geddesi a synonym of Herichthys deppii, and "C." istlanum and "C." trimaculatum placed in Amphilophus) are not included by Catalog of Fishes, effectively limiting Cichlasoma to a group of rather similar, medium-small cichlids of South America.[4]

References

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  1. ^ McMahan, C.D.; Matamoros, W.A.; Piller, K.R. & Chakrabarty, P. (2015). "Taxonomy and systematics of the herichthyins (Cichlidae: Tribe Heroini), with the description of eight new Middle American Genera". Zootaxa. 3999 (2): 211–234. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3999.2.3. PMID 26623572. S2CID 34699955.
  2. ^ Říčan, O.; Piálek, L.; Dragová, K.; Novák, J. (2016). "Diversity and evolution of the Middle American cichlid fishes (Teleostei: Cichlidae) with revised classification". Vertebrate Zoology. 66 (1): 1–102. doi:10.3897/vz.66.e31534.
  3. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Cichlasoma". FishBase. February 2020 version.
  4. ^ Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Cichlasoma". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 14 July 2019.