Panamanian Green Terrors (sorta)

[duanes]

I use the term Green Terrors loosely because although they in the same genus (Andinoacara) as rivulatus and stalsbergi, they are more closely aligned with pulcher.
That said they can be quite striking, and for those aquarists in hard water, high pH areas, may be more adaptive to those conditions.
I collect Andinoacara coerlupunctatus in Panamanian rivers with a pH of 8.2 (give or take a tenth either way) with high alkalinity, and hard water, and collected what I consider two color variants.
The variant I've been finding in more eastern rivers. such as the mamoi, and Pacora are quite gold based in color, with orange fin highlights .

The previous group collected in Central Panama, in tributaries of the Chagres with more submerged aquatic vegetation showed more blue highlights.

 

[troublesum]

Maybe its just me because i'm old and my eyes are not as good as they use to be but the last ones with the blue highlights seem to be more streamlined while the top ones seem to be a bit taller bodied.

 

[duanes]

Maybe its just me because i'm old and my eyes are not as good as they use to be but the last ones with the blue highlights seem to be more streamlined while the top ones seem to be a bit taller bodied.

I agree, the more blue morphs were caught in areas of Lake Gatun, a slower moving body of water,


but the gold morphs were caught in Rio Mamoni and Pacora which are higher current , rheophillic areas, and sometimes create those higher bodied individuals, needing more muscular to fight the current
.

 

[jjohnwm]

It seems almost inevitable that the splitters will get to work on turning those into two separate species. At least visually, they look more divergent than many other closely-related species groups that have already been chopped up into tiny pieces.

Dang! I hate these threads!

I have no interest in living in places where winter is hot, and summer is extra stinkin' hot, and I'm dodging crocodiles and clenching against Candirus and wearing piranha armour, and I'm the only English-speaking Gringo on the block, and my house is invaded by 5-pound tarantulas and it rains for weeks on end, but...man, I am jealous of your cast-net collecting excursions.