Area 6,915 km² Province Uíge Province | Phylum Chordata Order Perciformes Subfamily Etroplinae Local time Thursday 7:56 AM | |
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Weather 21°C, Wind S at 6 km/h, 89% Humidity | ||
Etymology
The genus name Paretroplus is composed by the Greek Para (meaning similar to) and Etroplus (a closely related genus of Indian cichlids). The Latin species name damii honors the naturalist van Dam).
Description
P. damii is the largest Paretroplus, reaching the total length of about 17–40 millimetres (0.67–1.57 in).
Distribution
This species can be found in several river basins in northwestern Madagascar.
This includes populations in far northern Madagascar that some have speculated represented an undescribed species, but a comparison of specimens did not support this, instead maintaining them as part of P. damii.
In contrast, populations in the Mahanara River in northeastern Madagascar were formerly also included in P. damii, but these were described as a separate species, P. loisellei, in 2011, and populations in the Ankofia River basin in northwestern Madagascar (south of true P. damii) appear to represent a closely related undescribed species.