''Chuco'' is a genus of medium-sized

cichlid Cichlids () are a large, diverse, and widespread family of percomorph fish in the family Cichlidae, order Cichliformes. At least 1,760 species have been scientifically described, making it one of the largest vertebrate families, with on ...

fishes from moderately to fast-flowing rivers and streams on the Atlantic slope of southern

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and northern

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

Taxonomy and species

Historically, ''Chuco'' was included in ''

Cichlasoma ''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. Reclassification and subsequent ...

''. Subsequently, the species were moved to '' Theraps'', but in 2016 it was shown that they are not close relatives of the ''Theraps''

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

, ''T. irregularis'', resulting in them being moved to ''Chuco'' (another species was moved to '' Wajpamheros''). There are currently three recognized species in the genus ''Chuco'': * '' Chuco godmanni'' – southern checkmark cichlid * '' Chuco intermedium'' – northern checkmark cichlid * '' Chuco microphthalmus''

References

Cichlidae Taxa named by Augustín Fernández-Yépez Fish of Central America {{Characiformes-stub