Tuesday 24 July 2012

Cichlasoma Dovii

Cichlasoma Dovii

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.


Cichlasoma Dovii

 Cichlasoma Dovii

 Cichlasoma Dovii

 Cichlasoma Dovii

 Cichlasoma Dovii

 Cichlasoma Dovii

 Cichlasoma Dovii

  Cichlasoma Dovii

Cichlasoma Dovii

 

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