Publication2 med aquascape Publication1cs complete | Page 155
appealing, in my opinion more hobbyist should
strive for smaller fish in larger display tanks!
Thorichthys complex has 11 described species, 8
valid, 3 synonyms. There is 1 undescribed species
with possibly 3 variations to note. The meaning of
Thorichthys comes from Meeks account of jumping
fish when observing them. I’m certain Meeks ob-
servations were correct, however, the reasons for
the fish jumping was probably different to the fish
being in a playful mood? The genus Thorichthys
was erected by Seth Eugene Meek in 1904.
The type specimen was given as Thorichthys el-
lioti, named after Professor D.G. Elliot, Curator of
the Department Zoology, Field Columbian Muse-
um. It later turns out that Thorichthys ellioti is a
junior synonym of a much earlier described fish
Thorichthys maculipinnis Steindachner 1864
(Artigas Azas, 1996), therefore the type specimen
now becomes Thorichthys maculipinnis.
A common diagnostic trait with many species of
the Thorichthys complex seems to be a black
ocelated blotch in the sub-opercul ar area; howev-
er of interest this particular trait seems to be lack-
ing in Thorichthys callolepis (Regan, 1905). It is
interesting because this ocelated spot has a very
important use as it is used to trick an intruder into
believing that the fish is larger than they appear
to be. The fish will blow out its gular pouches, ex-
tending the gill plates and displaying the ocelated
spots giving the impression that they are large
eyes belonging to a bigger fish.
As for categorizing into a valid genus, they were
put into Cichlasoma by Regan in 1905 defined
then by 3 members, C. aureum, C. affine and C.
callolepis. Thorichthys ellioti was considered a jun-
ior synonym of Thorichthys aureus, together with
Thorichthys helleri and Thorichthys maculipinnis. It
was only later that both Thorichthys ellioti and
Thorichthys helleri were considered to be distinct
species by Newton Miller (Miller, N. 1907) and
Carl L. Hubbs (Hubbs, 1936) and later by Robert
Rush Miller (Miller 1961). In 1983 Sven kullander
began restricting Cichlasoma to the South Ameri-
can bimaculatum group, so where did this leave
the status of the genus? Again in 1996 Robert
Rush Miller made a statement giving seal of ap-
proval that the Thorichthys complex are a “valid
monophyletic group”. Thorichthys was also sug-
gested by Kullander in 1996 where the name has
been adopted since. It seems for now that Tho-
richthys as a valid genus is secure.
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