Cichlid Profiles - Addendum to Apistogramma atahualpa and A. huascar
On March 10, 2014, I received an email from Uwe Romer who described Apistogramma atahualpa in 1997 and huascar in 2006. After examination of 800 specimens, it has been established that while the females remain very hard to tell apart, huascar females have a bigger middorsal spot in breeding color, a substantially bigger caudal peduncle black spot, a thicker eye bar, and usually a lavender tinged rather than iridescent white (as in atahualpa) dorsal fin top. Also, so far both species of females only mate with their own kind. There are now 5 localities known for huascar, and 8 for atahualpa, one of which for both is the Rio Huallaga, which is up to half a mile wide in places, and where they may overlap, but usually is a barrier to small fish. This is still being investigated. Romer adds that there are approximately 250 cryptic morphs of other Apistos yet to be definitively differentiated.
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Dr. Robert Price
Last edited by robertprice; March 10th, 2014 at 11:05 AM.
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