Peacock bass
| Peacock bass | |
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| An adult butterfly peacock bass | |
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| A juvenile peacock bass | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Perciformes |
| Family: | Cichlidae |
| Genus: | Cichla |
| Fly fishing |
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| targets |
| bluefish |
| brook trout |
| crappie |
| hucho taimen |
| largemouth bass |
| northern pike |
| peacock bass |
| shoal bass |
| smallmouth bass |
| more fly fish... |
| other sport fish... |
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| fishing |
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| I N D E X |
Peacock bass is the common name in English for a group of closely related species of tropical, freshwater fish of the genus Cichla.
There are 15 known species of peacock bass, others will surely be described (but see the results based on DNA data). Their common names vary greatly depending on the country, region, stage of development and local anglers. Below is a complete list of the taxonomic, binomial names for these cichlids, along with available English common names.
Extensive molecular data has cast doubt on these designations, however. Aside from limited hybridization among many species, in both natural and human-altered environments, several species do not show sufficient differentiation to imply reproductive isolation and/or a history of independent evolution. Among the species implicated as probable "good" species were Cichla intermedia, C. orinocensis, C. temensis, C. melaniae, C. mirianae, and C. piquiti. The other species were suggested to be part of two widespread meta-species or species complexes, called Cichla pinima sensu lato (including C. jariina, C. thyrorus, and C. vazzoleri) and C. ocellaris sensu lato (including C. monoculus, C. nigromaculata, C. pleiozona, and C. kelberi).
There are many common names for these fish in Brazil, the country of their largest native region. The most popular of these is tucunaré (too-koo-nah-REH). In Spanish, the generic common name for these cichlids is pavόn (pah-VOHN). Pavón, in Spanish, means "peacock", while the Brazilian name (Tucunaré) comes from Tupy, a native Indian language, and means "friend of the tree", as this peacock bass usually stays close to submersed trees to hunt and to protect itself and its nests.
The speckled peacock bass is the largest species and can grow over 100 centimeters in length, and may be the largest of all cichlid fishes. Most display a color pattern based on a theme of three wide vertical stripes on their bodies, sometimes with smaller intermediate bands, only a grey, brown, yellow, or green background. They also exhibit a spot on their tail fins that resembles the eyes on a peacock's tail feathers—a feature which resulted in their common names (this "ocellus" is a common feature of South American cichlids, and is thought to deter predators and fin-biting piranhas). In addition, many adult fishes (primarily males, but also some females) develop a pronounced hump on their foreheads (nuchal hump) shortly before and during the rainy season, when the fishes generally spawn. Other physical traits can vary greatly, depending on the species, individual and stage of development. These include, but are not limited to: dark rosettes instead of stripes, light speckles and impressive shades of bright green, orange, blue and gold. Very young fish exhibit dark horizontal stripes down half (C. orinocensis, C. ocellaris, et al.) or the whole (C. temensis, C. pinima, et al.) body.
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Wikipedia