Species: Herichthys cyanoguttatus, Rio Grande cichlid, Texas cichlid
head bluntly pointed
Herichthys cyanoguttatus Baird & Girard, 1854
Rio Grande cichlid, Texas cichlid
Body oval, moderately compressed; large fish with a bulbous hump over the eyes; 1 pair of nostrils; mouth short, oblique, horizontal or slightly down pointing; jaws about equal or upper projecting; top jaw highly protrusible; jaw teeth mostly conical, but central teeth of outer series compressed and spatula-like in adult, closely packed and pointed in young; gill rakers 7-15; dorsal fin XV-XVIII, 10-14, without a notch between spines and rays; anal fin V-VI, 7-11; pectoral fin reaching to above anus; length of tail base < its depth at its mid-point; bases of soft dorsal and anal fins scaled; lateral line in 2 straight overlapping sections; scales large, 18+8 on lateral line.
Grey-brown; head, body & fins with many small, blue spots; a row of dark spots along mid-flank, typically one at mid-body, another on tail fin base, sometimes several more between those; body with up to 8 indistinct dark bars, those on rear half of body darker; no stripe along mid-side; sometimes a black spot on middle of spiny dorsal fin.
Reaches 33 cm.
Primarily freshwater, but also in low salinity brackish water (up to at least 7 ppt) near river mouths.
Depth range: 0-5 m.
Originally from the western Gulf of Mexico. Introduced to the northern Gulf and both coasts of Florida, also Puerto Rico.
High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
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- Non Marine
- Brackish
- Freshwater
- Inshore/Offshore
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- Inshore
- Inshore Only
- Water Column Position
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- Bottom
- Habitat
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- Submerged vegetation
- Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
- Estuary
- Freshwater
- FishBase Habitat
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- Demersal
- Feeding Group
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- Data
- Omnivore
- Diet
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- Mobile benthic worms
- Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
- Insects
- Benthic microalgae
- Data
- Egg Type
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- Data
- Brooded
- No pelagic larva
- No pelagic phase
- Global Endemism
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- All species.
- West Atlantic Endemic
- Greater Caribbean endemic
- Regional Endemism
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- Continent only
- Gulf of Mexico endemic
- GC endemic
- Continent
- All species..
- Residency
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- Resident
- Climate Zone
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- Tropical (10-23N, Nicaragua / Cuba)
- Subtropical (23-35N, Florida / Carolinas / Bermuda)
- IUCN Red List
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- Listed
- Least concern
- CITES
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- Not listed
- Depth Range Max
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- 5
- Depth Range Min
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- 0
- Length Max
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- 33
