/« 



124 Field Museum of Natural History — Zoology, Vol. X. 



Cichlasoma dovii (Gunther). 



Heros dovii Gunther, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1864, 154 (Lake Nica- 

 ragua); — Gunther, Fishes of Cent. Amer., i866, 461, pi. 73, 

 fig. 4 (Lake Nicaragua). 



Color variable, sides with vertical bars irregular and not well defined 

 in the larger specimens ; usually a dark spot on each scale on lower part 

 of the body, these forming broken stripes along the rows of scales; anal 

 spines 6 or 7 ; vertebrae 1 5 + 19 = 34. This species grows larger than any 

 other cichlid found in Costa Rica. It is the largest and most important 

 food fish in the lakes of Nicaragua as well. 



Parismina (i), 130 mm.; Costa Rica River (2), 215 to 240 mm.; 

 Zent, April 12 (8), 115 to 290 mm.; Zent, April 15 (11), 50 to 160 mm.; 

 La Victoria (13), 45 to 250 mm.; Rio Higueron (11), 43 to 115 mm. 

 (Alfaro). 



Cichlasoma tuba Meek. Tuba. 



Tomocichla undenvoodi Regan, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., 1908, 463 

 (Rio Iroquois) (preoccupied). 



Cichlasoma tuba Meek, Pub. Field Mus., Zool. Ser., x, 191 2, 73 

 (La Victoria). 



By the people at La Victoria this species is knowTi as Tuba. The 

 dentition of this species varies considerably. In the smaller specimens 

 examined by me the anterior teeth are conical or nearly so. In most of 

 the larger specimens these teeth are more or less flattened at the base, 

 their tips being truncate or slightly rounded. There is also considerable 

 variation in the thickness of the lips; in some specimens, usually the 

 smaller, the lips are normal; in others they varj'' from normal to lips 

 similar (though smaller) to those of Cichlasoma lobochilus Gunther. 

 Two specimens (170 to 180 mm.) from La Victoria have very thick lips 

 and compressed teeth, while a specimen from Guapilis (195 mm.) has 

 the lips nearly normal and the teeth much less compressed. The 

 teeth in general are more compressed in specimens mth the thickest 

 lips, and these are only in the most general way correlated with size. 

 I am inclined to believe that the variation in the dentition is due to age ; 

 and the thickened lips are due to age and are also associated in some 

 way \vith breeding. 



The backward position of the ventral fins is not ver\' marked in this 

 species, especially when compared with other slender species of Cichlaso- 

 ma. The species which form the types on which were based the genera 

 Herichthys, Paran^troplus and Tomocichla have a variable and quite 



