''Thorichthys'' is a

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 ...

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 ...

fish that is native to the Atlantic slope of Middle America, ranging from southern

Veracruz Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entit ...

and 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 ...

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 ...

, to

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

and

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

, with introduced populations in a few other countries. They tend to inhabit moderately-flowing to standing water such as rivers, streams, lakes, ditches and lagoons, and they are primarily freshwater fish, although ''T. helleri'' and ''T. meeki'' may occur in slightly

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...

habitats. ''Thorichthys'' have somewhat pointy heads and their body often has a large blackish spot, a broad dark horizontal stripe and/or a sometimes inconspicuous pattern of vertical bands. They mostly feed on

invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...

s and

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 ...

. Members of ''Thorichthys'' do not exceed in

standard length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of fish anatomy, their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is ...

, and they are popular

aquarium fish Lists of aquarium life include lists of fish, amphibians, invertebrates and plants in freshwater, brackish and marine aquarium An aquarium (: aquariums or aquaria) is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquat ...

, especially the well-known firemouth cichlid (''T. meeki''). Genetic evidence shows that ''Thorichthys'' is most closely related to

Salvin's cichlid The Salvin's cichlid (''Trichromis salvini''), also known as the yellow-belly cichlid or tricolored cichlid, is a species of the family Cichlidae. It is found in rivers of the Atlantic slope of southern Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala. It is the o ...

, the only species of the genus ''Trichromis'', which is morphologically and behaviorally rather different. In contrast, ''Thorichthys'' is not particularly close to ''

Cribroheros ''Cribroheros'' is a genus of cichlid found in Middle America (Americas), Middle America. These freshwater fish are distributed over most of Middle America, from western Panama to southern Mexico, on both Atlantic and Pacific slopes. Depending on ...

'' despite having several features that are similar.

Species

There are currently 9 recognized species in this genus: * '' Thorichthys affinis'' ( Günther, 1862) (Yellow meeki) * '' Thorichthys aureus'' ( Günther, 1862) (Blue flash) * '' Thorichthys callolepis'' ( Regan, 1904) (San Domingo cichlid) * '' Thorichthys helleri'' (

Steindachner Franz Steindachner (11 November 1834 in Vienna – 10 December 1919 in Vienna) was an Austrian zoologist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist. He published over 200 papers on fishes and over 50 papers on reptiles and amphibians. Steindachner descri ...

, 1864) (Yellow cichlid) * '' Thorichthys maculipinnis'' (

, 1864) * '' Thorichthys meeki'' Brind, 1918 (Firemouth cichlid) * ''

Thorichthys panchovillai ''Thorichthys'' is a genus of cichlid fish that is native to the Atlantic slope of Middle America (Americas), Middle America, ranging from southern Veracruz and the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, to Guatemala and Honduras, with Introduced species, ...

'' Moral-Flores, López-Segovia & Hernández-Arellano, 2017 * '' Thorichthys pasionis'' ( Rivas, 1962) (Blackgullet cichlid) * '' Thorichthys socolofi'' ( R. R. Miller & J. N. Taylor, 1984) (Chiapas cichlid)

References

Heroini Fish of Central America Cichlid genera Taxa named by Seth Eugene Meek {{Cichlasomatinae-stub