In particular, the species occurs along the eastern coast of Central America from Guatemala to Costa Rica, and on the western coast from Honduras to Panama. Range and habitat Ī male convict cichlid caught on a hook and line, in the heated outflow of a coal powerplant in Victoria, Australia.Ĭonvict cichlids are native to the lakes and streams of Central America. The leucistic colouration is caused by a mutation in an autosomal gene and is recessively inherited. These are known commonly as white convicts, pink convicts, gold convicts, and A. Selective breeding has resulted in a leucistic strain, which lacks the dark barring of the wild type. The body weight of the fish is about 34–36 grams (1.2–1.3 oz). The maximum standard length has been reported to be 10 centimeters, with total length near 12 centimeters (4.7 in). She has more intense black bands across the body, and pink to orange colouration in the ventral region and on the dorsal fin.

Unusually for fish, the female is more highly coloured. In addition, older males frequently develop vestigial fatty lumps on their foreheads. Males are larger than females, and they have more pointed ventral, dorsal and anal fins which often extend into filaments. The male is mostly gray with light black stripes along the body. Juvenile convict cichlids are monomorphic until they reach sexual maturity. The wild-type of the species has 8 or 9 black vertical bars on a blue-grey body, along with a dark blotch on the operculum. Description Ī young male convict cichlid showing the leucistic colouration Similarly, the species epithet nigrofasciatus literally means 'black-striped'. The common name convict cichlid is, like the species name, derived from the vertical black stripes on the body which are reminiscent of the striped prison uniforms of British convicts. Ī number of synonyms exist for this species including: Archocentrus nigrofasciatus, Cichlasoma nigrofasciatum, Cryptoheros nigrofasciatus and Heros nigrofasciatus. nigrofasciata, which used to cover all these species, is restricted to the northern population ranging from El Salvador to Guatemala on the Pacific slope and from Honduras to Guatemala on the Atlantic slope. nigrofasciata, leading to the recommendation of regarding it as a junior synonym. coatepeque from Lake Coatepeque in El Salvador however, the latter is indistinguishable from A. kanna from Panama's Atlantic slope, and A.

Two other species formerly included in A. siquia, the Honduran red point cichlid or Honduran red point convict, which ranges from the Atlantic slope of Honduras south to Costa Rica. Some of these regional variants are now considered different species.

The convict cichlid, as traditionally defined, displays significant color variations across its range. However, a 2008 study led by Oldřich Říčan proposed moving the species in Cryptoheros and Amatitlania, including Amatitlania nigrofasciata into the genus Hypsophrys. In 2007, the species was moved from the genus Archocentrus to a new genus, Amatitlania, based on Juan Schmitter-Soto's study of Archocentus species. Taxonomy Īlbert Günther originally described the species in 1867 after Frederick DuCane Godman and Osbert Salvin collected specimens in Central America. Convict cichlids are popular aquarium fish and have also been the subject of numerous studies on fish behaviour. The convict cichlid ( Amatitlania nigrofasciata) is a fish species from the family Cichlidae, native to Central America, also known as the zebra cichlid. Cryptoheros nigrofasciatus (Günther, 1867).Cichlasoma nigrofasciatum (Günther, 1867).Archocentrus nigrofasciatus (Günther, 1867).

Red zebra cichlid