''Pelvicachromis taeniatus'' is a 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 th ...

from

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the nort ...

and

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

that is occasionally kept as an aquarium fish. It is native to the soft-water rivers. This species can reach a length of SL. It is known to exist in a variety of geographically restricted varieties distinguished by differences in coloration. These are often given names such as "Nigerian red" or "Moliwe" that refer to the places where each variety is collected. The species ''P. taeniatus'' formerly included populations from

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the ...

. A 2014 study by Lamboj, Bartel & dell’Ampio found that the Cameroon populations were a different species from the Nigeria populations, and identified the Cameroon populations as belonging to the species '' Pelvicachromis kribensis'' and '' Pelvicachromis drachenfelsi''. Lamboj, Bartel & dell’Ampio found that ''P. kribensis'', ''P. drachenfelsi''and ''P. taeniatus'' are closely related and form a clade within the genus ''Pelvicachromis'', which they described as the "''P. taeniatus'' group".

Courtship

During courtship females display a large and visually arresting purple

pelvic fin Pelvic fins or ventral fins are paired fins located on the ventral surface of fish. The paired pelvic fins are homologous to the hindlimbs of tetrapods. Structure and function Structure In actinopterygians, the pelvic fin consists of two ...

as a sexual ornament ''(see image left)''. "The researchers found that males clearly preferred females with a larger pelvic fin and that pelvic fins grew in a more disproportionate way than other fins on female fish."Baldauf SA, TCM Bakker, F Herder, H Kullmann and T Thünken (2010
"Male mate choice scales female ornament allometry in a cichlid fish"
''BMC Evolutionary Biologr//, 10 :301.

References

taeniatus Fishkeeping Taxa named by George Albert Boulenger Fish described in 1901 Freshwater fish of Africa {{cichlidae-stub