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When Dr: Seth Eugene Meek was 
studying the fishes of Mexico he noted 
certain characteristics in several species 
of Cichlasoma that seemed to set them 
apart. For these he proposed his genus 
Thorichthys,* designating T. ellioti, a 
new species, as the type. Thorichthys 
differs from Cichlasoma in having a 
“deep body, much compressed; mouth 
rather small; caudal fin lunate, its outer 
rays produced into a filament; pectoral 
fin long and pointed, about as long or 
longer than the head; subopercle with 
a black blotch, otherwise as in Cichla- 
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very variable, though they represent 
quite a distinct type of cichlids. 
Typical examples of 7. helleri are light 
olive in color, with six rather indistinct 
dark cross-bars; side of head with small 
blue spots; a black spot on subopercle or 
lower margin of gill cover. 
Thorichthys helleri meeki subsp. nov. 
In May, 1917, a French sailor arrived 
in New York with 265 specimens which 
he had captured in the shallow reaches 
Olya ver = near Prooreso, Yucatan 
These were soon distributed among 
aquarians and the fish became popularly 
known as the scarlet chanchito. The 
fish presents such a marked departure 
in color from the type that the writer 
proposes for it subspecific rank. Meek 
in his color description of the species, 
makes no mention of the presence of red. 
In our specimens a brilliant scarlet suf- 
fusion and striping extends from the 
throat and lower gill covers back and 
*The Fresh-water Fishes of Mexico North 
of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Meek. Zool. 
Ser., Vol. 5, Field Columbian Museum, 1904. 
a rr 
) A New Subspecies of 
Thorichthys Helleri 
WALTER LANNOY BRIND, F. Z. S. | 
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beyond the extremities of the pectoral 
fins, otherwise the coloration is much as 
in the type. It is more than likely that 
the fish is a local color variety, but the 
fact that so many specimens were col- 
lected, indicates that it is well establish- 
ed and is not to be regarded as an indi- 
vidual variation. The type specimen has 
been deposited in the United States Na- 
tional Museum, where it is recorded as 
Accession 61490. 
For the aquarium the scarlet chanchito 
Thorichthys helleri meeki 
makes an attractive specimen. While 
its breeding habits have not yet been ob- 
served, it does not appear to be a dif- 
ficult fish to maintain. It reaches a 
length of six inches, a goodly size as 
“aquarium fishes” go, so it follows that 
a roomy, shallow tank should be pro- 
vided if one would have it flourish. As 
it comes from Yueatan, well within the 
Tropic of Cancer, it is a truly tropical 
species and should be treated as such, 
care being exercised not to permit the 
water temperature to drop below 7o de- 
grees. While it will take dry prepared 
foods, preference should be given to ten- 
der worms and similar materials. 
That the differences in the proportions 
and shapes of the fins of Cichlasoma and 
Thorichthys may be more apparent, in 
