The wolf cichlid is a very tough predator. Do not be fooled by its
scientific name "dovii", meaning peaceful dove. The body of this fish is
pure muscle, which allows this very slender, lean cichlid to move
extremely quickly and with great power. The very think and muscular
caudal peduncle and the large round tail are ideal for driving such a
large fish through water with good speed. The eyes are well set back on
the head and face forward, typical of a predator. At least two very
prominent incisor teeth are visible, protruding upwards from the lower
jaw.
The adults are quite easy to sex. Juvenile specimens are fairly
uninteresting silver fishes, with a broken horizontal stripe running
along the flanks. But as they mature, males develop longer, more pointed
fins that have lots of spots. Males also have lots of small spots on
their heads. Females on the other hand, rarely show any spots at all and
their base color matures to a mustard yellow. This fish's color often
varies and sometimes the males have a purple base color.
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