Geophagus Explained

Geophagus is a genus of cichlids that mainly live in South America as far south as Argentina and Uruguay, but a single species, G. crassilabris is from Panama.^[1] They are found in a wide range of freshwater habitats.^[2] They are part of a group popularly known as eartheaters and mostly feed by picking up mouthfuls of sediment to sift out food items such as invertebrates, plant material and detritus.^[2] The largest species reach up to 28cm (11inches) in standard length.^[2] They are mostly kept in aquariums.^[3]

As an invasive species

Geophagus Surinamensis was an invasive species in Malaysia, recently found in Putrajaya, the populations are now controlled by giant snakeheads.

Taxonomy

Some cichlids previously included in this genus have been reallocated to Biotodoma, Gymnogeophagus or Satanoperca.^[4] Even with these as separate genera, Geophagus is currently polyphyletic and in need of further taxonomic revision. There are three main groups:^{[2] [5] [6] [7]}

• Geophagus sensu stricto are mostly relatively peaceful, often have long fin extensions and are native to the Amazon, Orinoco and Parnaíba basins, as well as rivers of the Guianas. This group can be divided into two subgroups: The first is the G. surinamensis complex, which includes most species (fish in the aquarium trade often are identified as G. surinamensis itself, but they are typically other members of this complex.) The second subgroup contains G. argyrostictus, G. gottwaldi, G. grammepareius, G. harreri and G. taeniopareius, which are somewhat less peaceful and can be separated from the G. surinamensis complex by their dark stripe below the eye (however, this feature is shared with the next group).
• G. brasiliensis complex (including G. diamantinensis, G. iporangensis, G. itapicuruensis, G. multiocellus, G. obscurus, G. rufomarginatus and G. santosi) are more robust and aggressive species found in river basins of eastern and southeastern Brazil, Uruguay and northeastern Argentina.
• G. steindachneri complex (including G. crassilabris and G. pellegrini and undescribed species entering the aquarium trade from Colombia) found west of the Andes in northern and western Colombia, northwestern Venezuela and Panama where adult males develop a distinct, bulbous red forehead.

Species

There are currently 32 recognized species in this genus. Additionally, plus the species already described in 2022 that are known.The new species of Geophagus naming a cichlid species in 2022

• Geophagus abalios López-Fernández & Taphorn, 2004
• Geophagus altifrons Heckel, 1840
• Geophagus argyrostictus S. O. Kullander, 1991
• Geophagus brachybranchus S. O. Kullander & Nijssen, 1989
• Geophagus brasiliensis (Quoy & Gaimard, 1824) (Pearl cichlid)
• Geophagus brokopondo S. O. Kullander & Nijssen, 1989
• Geophagus camopiensis Pellegrin, 1903 (Oyapock eartheater)
• Geophagus crassilabris Steindachner, 1876 (Panamanian eartheater)
• Geophagus crocatus Hauser & López-Fernández, 2013^[8]
• Geophagus diamantinensis Mattos, W. J. E. M. Costa & A. C. A. Santos, 2015^[1]
• Geophagus dicrozoster López-Fernández & Taphorn, 2004
• Geophagus gottwaldi I. Schindler & Staeck, 2006^[9]
• Geophagus grammepareius S. O. Kullander & Taphorn, 1992
• Geophagus harreri J. P. Gosse, 1976 (Maroni eartheater)^[10]
• Geophagus iporangensis Haseman, 1911
• Geophagus itapicuruensis Haseman, 1911
• Geophagus megasema Heckel, 1840
• Geophagus mirabilis Deprá, S. O. Kullander, Pavanelli & da Graça, 2014^[11]
• Geophagus multiocellus Mattos & W. J. E. M. Costa, 2018^[7]
• Geophagus neambi P. H. L. Lucinda, C. A. S. de Lucena & Assis, 2010
• Geophagus obscurus (Castelnau, 1855)
• Geophagus parnaibae Staeck & I. Schindler, 2006^[12]
• Geophagus pellegrini Regan, 1912 (Yellowhump eartheater)
• Geophagus proximus (Castelnau, 1855)
• Geophagus pyrocephalus
• Geophagus rufomarginatus Mattos & W. J. E. M. Costa, 2018^[7]
• Geophagus santosi Mattos & W. J. E. M. Costa, 2018^[7]
• Geophagus steindachneri C. H. Eigenmann & Hildebrand, 1922 (Redhump eartheater)
• Geophagus surinamensis (Bloch, 1791) (Red-striped eartheater)
• Geophagus sveni P. H. F. Lucinda, C. A. S. de Lucena & Assis, 2010
• Geophagus taeniopareius S. O. Kullander & Royero-L., 1992
• Geophagus winemilleri López-Fernández & Taphorn, 2004

Notes and References

1. Mattos, J.L.O., Costa, W.J.E.M. & Santos, A.C.A. (2015): Geophagus diamantinensis, a new species of the G. brasiliensis species group from Chapada Diamantina, north-eastern Brazil (Cichlidae: Geophagini). Ichthyological Explorations of Freshwaters, 26 (3): 209-220.
2. Book: van der Sleen, P. . J.S. Albert . 2017 . Field Guide to the Fishes of the Amazon, Orinoco, and Guianas . Princeton University Press . 374–375 . 978-0-691-17074-9 .
3. Web site: Geophagus sp. 'orange head' . SeriouslyFish . 22 October 2017 .
4. Book: Kullander, S.O. . 1986 . Cichlid fishes of the Amazon River drainage of Peru . Swedish Museum of Natural History . 91-86510-04-5 .
5. López-Fernández, H.. . D.C. Taphorn . 2004 . Geophagus abalios, G. dicrozoster and G. winemilleri (Perciformes: Cichlidae), three new species from Venezuela . Zootaxa . 439 . 1–27 . 10.5281/zenodo.157563 .
6. López-Fernández, H. . R.L. Honeycutt . M.L.J. Stiassny . K.O. Winemiller . 2005 . Morphology, molecules, and character congruence in the phylogeny of South American geophagine cichlids (Perciformes, Labroidei) . Zoologica Scripta . 34 . 6 . 627–651 . 10.1111/j.1463-6409.2005.00209.x .
7. Mattos, J.L.O. . W.J.E.M. Costa . 2018 . Three new species of the 'Geophagus' brasiliensis species group from the northeast Brazil (Cichlidae, Geophagini) . Zoosystematics and Evolution . 94 . 2 . 325–337 . 10.3897/zse.94.22685 . free .
8. Hauser, F.E. & López-Fernández, H. (2013): Geophagus crocatus, a new species of geophagine cichlid from the Berbice River, Guyana, South America (Teleostei: Cichlidae). Zootaxa, 3731 (2): 279–286.
9. Schindler, I. & Staeck, W. (2006): Geophagus gottwaldi sp. n. - a new species of cichlid fish (Teleostei: Perciformes: Cichlidae) from the drainage of the upper rio Orinoco in Venezuela. Zoologische Abhandlungen (Dresden), 56: 91-97.
10. Web site: Order CICHLIFORMES: Family CICHLIDAE: Subfamily CICHLINAE (d-w) . 19 March 2022 . Christopher Scharpf . Kenneth J. Lazara . amp . The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database . Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara . 22 September 2018.
11. Deprá, G.C. . Kullander, S.O. . Pavanelli, C.S. . da Graça, W.J. . 2014 . A new colorful species of Geophagus (Teleostei: Cichlidae), endemic to the rio Aripuanã in the Amazon basin of Brazil . Neotropical Ichthyology . 12 . 4 . 737–746 . https://web.archive.org/web/20141229162648/http://www.ufrgs.br/ni/niv12n04/NI-2014-0038.pdf . 2014-12-29 . 10.1590/1982-0224-20140038.
12. Staeck, W. & Schindler, I. (2006): Geophagus parnaibae sp. n. - a new species of cichlid fish (Teleostei: Perciformes: Cichlidae) from the rio Parnaiba basin, Brazil. Zoologische Abhandlungen (Dresden), 55: 69-75.