Apistogramma viejita
Apistogramma viejita is a dwarf cichlid in the subfamily Cichlinae, in the tribe Geophagini.[2] It is a benthopelagic freshwater fish that lives in the Meta River and the Orinoco River in Colombia.[3] They grow up to 4.6 cm in standard length.[3]
| Apistogramma viejita | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Cichliformes |
| Family: | Cichlidae |
| Genus: | Apistogramma |
| Species: | A. viejita |
| Binomial name | |
| Apistogramma viejita S. O. Kullander, 1979[1] | |
The males gather harems for spawning if there is an excess number of females. The clutch of up to 100 eggs is deposited on the ceiling of a cave and is tended by the female parent.[3]
Apistogramma macmasteri is often mislabelled as Apistogramma viejita by shops. In fact the latter is a very rare fish which is not commercially bred and thus is not commonly available in the trade.
In the specific name, the author, Sven O. Kullander, is referencing the use of the Spanish word vieja, meaning "old lady", for many species of cichlids in South America. The diminutive viejita is used for the smaller cichlids in eastern Colombia, although Kullander does not reveal why this is the case.[4]
References
- Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Apistogramma viejita". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
- Wm. Leo Smith; Prosanta Chakrabarty; John S. Sparks (2008). "Phylogeny, taxonomy, and evolution of Neotropical cichlids (Teleostei: Cichlidae: Cichlinae)" (PDF). Cladistics. 24 (5): 624–641.
- Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2018). "Apistogramma viejita" in FishBase. June 2018 version.
- Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara (22 September 2018). "Order CICHLIFORMES: Family CICHLIDAE: Subfamily CICHLINAE (a-c)". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 17 November 2018.