Amphilophus zaliosus explained

Amphilophus zaliosus^[1] is a species of cichlid that inhabits Lake Apoyo in Nicaragua. It is known in the aquarium trade as the arrow cichlid. It is an elongate species in the Midas cichlid species complex. The arrow cichlid shares its habitat with five other recently discovered species of this complex.^{[2] [3]}

Genetic evidence from Apoyo supports a hypothesis that the six known species of the lake evolved via sympatric speciation.^[4]

Appearance

The yellow background color, common among the Amphilophus cichlids of Nicaragua, is absent in the arrow cichlid. The background color is silver to greenish gray. Breeding specimens can be entirely black.

Conservation

The arrow cichlid is the only endemic Lake Apoyo cichlid that has been evaluated by the IUCN. It has been rated as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Among the small body of information regarding populations of the species of this group, four other species may have smaller populations and/or ranges than this fish in Lake Apoyo: Amphilophus flaveolus, A. chancho, A. supercilius, and A. globosus. The final member of the complex, A. astorquii, constitutes about eighty percent of the native cichlid breeding population in the lake.^[5]

References

1. http://www.gaianicaragua.org/BarlowMunsey1976.pdf Barlow GW and Munsey JW (1976): The Red Devil-Midas-Arrow Cichlid Species Complex in Nicaragua; INVESTIGATIONS OF THE ICHTHYOFAUNA OF NICARAGUAN LAKES, ed Thomas B. Thorson (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) 359-369
2. Web site: Stauffer JR, Jr., McCrary JK, & Black KE (2008): Three new species of cichlid fishes (Teleostei: Cichlidae) from Lake Apoyo, Nicaragua; PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 121(1):117–129 . 2013-05-01 . 2011-10-03 . https://web.archive.org/web/20111003195733/http://www.gaianicaragua.org/three%20new%20species%20of%20cichlids%20from%20Lake%20Apoyo.pdf . dead .
3. Web site: Geiger MF, McCrary JK, & Stauffer JR, Jr. (2010): Description of two new species of the Midas cichlid complex (Teleostei:Cichlidae) from Lake Apoyo, Nicaragua; PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 123(2):159–173 . 2013-05-01 . 2011-10-03 . https://web.archive.org/web/20111003195857/http://www.gaianicaragua.org/geiger2010sps.pdf . dead .
4. http://www.gaianicaragua.org/Geiger_et_al_2010.pdf Geiger MF, McCrary JK, Schliewen U (2010): Not a simple case – A first comprehensive phylogenetic hypothesis for the Midas cichlid complex in Nicaragua (Teleostei: Cichlidae: Amphilophus); Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 56:1011-1024
5. http://www.gaianicaragua.org/01-revista_renibio_articulo-04.pdf McCrary JK, Lopez Perez LJ (2008): El monitoreo de las mojarras (Amphilophus spp.) en Nicaragua con aportes sobre su ecologia y estado de conservacion en la Laguna de Apoyo ; Revista Nicaraguense BIODIVERSIDAD 1:43-50

• FishBase (2006) Eds. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. World Wide Web electronic publication. fishbase.org version (07/2006).

External links

• "Mojarras de Apoyo a Museo Smithsonian" (in Spanish)
• "Hallan Nuevas Mojarras" (in Spanish)
• "El Nuevo Charco de Suenos de Darwin" (in Spanish)
• "Video of endemic Amphilophus cichlids in Laguna de Apoyo, Nicaragua"
• Amphilophus zaliosus in its natural habitat