''Mayaheros urophthalmus'', also known as the Mayan cichlid or Mexican mojarra, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

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 ...

Taxonomy

Previously, this

was placed in the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

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 ...

'' and the subgeneric section ''

Nandopsis ''Nandopsis'' is a small genus of cichlid fishes found in lakes, streams and rivers in Cuba and Hispaniola. ''Nandopsis'' are the only cichlids native to the Antilles. Species The genus currently contains three extant species, as well as one fos ...

'', that genus is in revision and has been restricted to the 12 species of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

n cichlids related to ''Cichlasoma bimaculatum''. Thus, many of the roughly 100 species that were formerly members of ''Cichlasoma'' have yet to be formally assigned to new genera.

Distribution

This species can be found in Middle America. It is native to the Atlantic slope of tropical

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area that begins in the southern part of North America and extends to the Pacific coast of Central America, thus comprising the lands of central and southern Mexico, all of Belize, Guatemala, El S ...

, ranging from eastern

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 ...

southward to

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

.Miller, R.R. (1966): Geographical Distribution of Central American Freshwater Fishes. ''Copeia, 1966 (4): 773–802.'' It was first recorded from

Everglades National Park Everglades National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States that protects the southern twenty percent of the original Everglades in Florida. The park is the largest tropical wilderness in the Un ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, in 1983, and is now a common nonindigenous fish in

South Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the Regions of the United States#Florida, southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are ...

Habitat

The Mayan cichlid inhabits freshwater marshes, mangrove swamps,

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

s, rocky shorelines,

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

, and coastal islands. Adults prefer coastal lagoons and rivers, and may survive in marine conditions. It can be found in oxygen-rich areas near submerged vegetation and over muddy substrates. Despite its preference for waters with dissolved oxygen content of at least 3.5 mg/L, though, it is capable of surviving in extreme hypoxia, because it is an oxygen conformer, becoming much less active in hypoxic water, and even surviving virtual anoxia for up to two hours. Unusually, this fish has been recorded in some ''

cenotes A cenote ( or ; ) is a natural pit, or sinkhole, resulting when a collapse of limestone bedrock exposes groundwater. The term originated on the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, where the ancient Maya commonly used cenotes for water supplies, and ...

'' in the Yucatan Peninsula.

Description

''Mayaheros urophthalmus'' reaches a maximum length of . This fish is one of the larger cichlids. Its body is oval and flattened on the sides and the head is tapering towards the mouth, and its fins are spiny. It has a base

color Color (or colour in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though co ...

of yellow-brown to gray-brown in most cases, that becomes intense red during breeding. The head and throat are reddish, especially in younger fish. The caudal fin and the soft sections of the dorsal and anal fins are usually more or less reddish. Six, wide, green-black vertical stripes run across the sides of the body between the base of the pectoral fin and the base of the caudal fin. A large black eye spot circled with blue-green is on the tail stem (hence the species scientific name ''urophthalmus'' (from ''oura'', Greek for tail and ''ophthalmos'', Greek for eye). Since the distribution area of the species is relatively large, this species may occurs in different colors, which may differ from the one described above.

Human relevance

In its native range, the Mayan cichlid is a popular food fish, so it is the basis of a regional fishery, and is commonly used in

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. Nelu ...

. As in many animals, the red color is much more brilliant in wild

specimen Specimen may refer to: Science and technology * Sample (material), a limited quantity of something which is intended to be similar to and represent a larger amount * Biological specimen or biospecimen, an organic specimen held by a biorepository f ...

s than captive ones, but one can help maintain some of its vibrance by feeding the fish live foods and foods that contain

vitamin A Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin that is an essential nutrient. The term "vitamin A" encompasses a group of chemically related organic compounds that includes retinol, retinyl esters, and several provitamin (precursor) carotenoids, most not ...

, which breaks down into the red pigment beta-carotene in the body. It is among the most-studied of the

Neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In biogeogra ...

cichlids.Martínez-Palacios, C.A., Chávez-Sánchez, C. & Olvera Novoa, M.A. (1993): The potential for culture of the American Cichlidae with emphasis on ''Cichlasoma urophthalmus''. ''In'': Muir, J.F. & Roberts, R.J. (Eds.), ''Recent advances in aquaculture''. Vol. 4., Blackwell, Oxford, England. To date, the Mayan cichlid has been most intensively studied at localities in southeastern Mexico on or near the

Yucatán Peninsula The Yucatán Peninsula ( , ; ) is a large peninsula in southeast Mexico and adjacent portions of Belize and Guatemala. The peninsula extends towards the northeast, separating the Gulf of Mexico to the north and west of the peninsula from the C ...

.Gamboa-Pérez, H.C. & Schmitter-Soto, J.J. (1999): Distribution of cichlid fishes in the littoral of Lake Bacalar, Yucatan Peninsula. ''Environmental Biology of Fishes, 54 (1): 35–43.'' In

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

, it is listed as one of 13 aquatic species prohibited for import and possession, including cultivation by the Department of Fisheries alongside other species such as zebra tilapia (''Heterotilapia buttikoferi'') and blackchin tilapia (''Sarotherodon melanotheron'') etc.

Biology

The Mayan cichlid is philopatric, or site tenacious, i.e., individuals are not migratory and prefer to stay within a home range.Faunce, C.H. & Lorenz, J.J. 2000. Reproductive Biology of the Introduced Mayan cichlid, ''Cichlasoma urophthalmus'', Within an Estuarine Mangrove Habitat of Southern Florida. ''Environmental Biology of Fishes, 58 (2): 215–225.'' It has a minimum temperature requirement of about .Stauffer, J.R.Jr. & Boltz, S.E. (1994): Effect of Salinity on the Temperature Preference and Tolerance of Age-0 Mayan Cichlids. ''Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, 123 (1): 101–107.'' In its native range, it inhabits waters with temperatures from , but its optimal temperature range is .Martinez-Palacios, C.A., Chavez-Sanchez, M.C. & Ross, L.G. (1996): The effects of water temperature on food intake, growth, and body composition of ''Cichlasoma urophthalmus'' (Günther) juveniles. ''Aquaculture Research, 27 (6): 455–461.'' The Mayan cichlid is capable of surviving in a variety of conditions. It is

euryhaline Euryhaline organisms are able to adapt to a wide range of salinities. An example of a euryhaline fish is the short-finned molly, '' Poecilia sphenops'', which can live in fresh water, brackish water, or salt water. The green crab ('' Carcinus m ...

and can survive in a range of salinity from 0 – 40 ppt. Experiments on captive specimens have shown that it can tolerate abrupt increases in salinity of up to 15 ppt.Martinez-Palacios, C.A., Ross, L.G. & Rosado-Vallado, M. (1990): The effects of salinity on the survival and growth of juvenile ''Cichlasoma urophthalmus''. ''Aquaculture, 91 (1-2): 65–75.'' The Mayan cichlid has a broad range of tolerance to abiotic conditions and a broad functional repertoire to enable it to feed on about 20% of evasive prey due to its 6.8% jaw protrusion while feeding.Hulsey, C.D. & García de León, F.J. (2005): Cichlid jaw mechanics: linking morphology to feeding specialization. ''Functional Ecology, 19 (3): 487–494.'' This species is also a dietary generalist, consuming organisms from a variety of disparate taxa.Martinez-Palacios, C.A. & Ross, L.G. (1988): The feeding ecology of the Central American cichlid ''Cichlasoma urophthalmus'' (Gunther). ''Journal of Fish Biology, 33 (5): 665–670.'' It is susceptible to malnourishment, though, apparently due to the requirement that a relatively large proportion of its diet be animal prey. The Mayan cichlid's diet includes plant matter, smaller fish,

algae Algae ( , ; : alga ) is an informal term for any organisms of a large and diverse group of photosynthesis, photosynthetic organisms that are not plants, and includes species from multiple distinct clades. Such organisms range from unicellular ...

detritus In biology, detritus ( or ) is organic matter made up of the decomposition, decomposing remains of organisms and plants, and also of feces. Detritus usually hosts communities of microorganisms that colonize and decomposition, decompose (Reminera ...

snails A snail is a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gas ...

crustaceans Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of Arthropod, arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquat ...

, and

insects Insects (from Latin ') are hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of jointed ...

Reproduction

The Mayan cichlid is

territorial A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, ...

and aggressive when breeding. As parents, Mayan cichlids are highly protective of their young, and they have several broods per year. This species is a monogamous, biparental substrate spawner that exhibits minimal

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different Morphology (biology), morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecy, di ...

and guards its fry for up to six weeks. All of these traits are greatly developed and represent an extreme in the general pattern found in the genus ''

Mayaheros ''Mayaheros'' is a genus of cichlid fish that is native to Mexico and northern Central America. This genus has a disjunct distribution, with the ''M. urophthalmus'' group being found in the Atlantic drainages of southeastern Mexico (southern Vera ...

''. In Mexico, the Mayan cichlid spawns for a nine-month period from March to November, particularly during the wet season from June to September. This corresponds to a period when the water temperature is at least 24°C. Multiple broods are raised per year. The fry appear to be adapted to lotic water. They exhibit strongly positive geotactic behavior, actively swimming down to the substrate upon hatching from the egg and adhering themselves to the bottom by means of three pairs of mucous glands. Mayan cichlid

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from1=Q25354031, from2=Q684576 Heroini Cichlid fish of Central America Cichlid fish of North America Freshwater fish of Mexico Freshwater fish of the United States Fish of Guatemala Euryhaline fish of Nicaragua Taxa named by Albert Günther Fish described in 1862 Articles containing video clips