278 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
dorsal with wine-colored spots, caudal with a broad light margin, anal with a dark 
margin, ventrals with dark tips; iris brilliant red. Young, 40 millimeters long, 
greenish; sides with 7 indistinct dark bars, broader than the interspaces; a black 
blotch above origin of lateral line, another on median part of side above origin of 
anal, a third on upper half of base of caudal; fins olivaceous, the anal a little paler 
than the other fins, the median rays of ventrals dark. All of the smaller specimens 
and some of the larger ones have dark bars, or indications thereof, on the sides. 
Most of the larger specimens have 5 or 6 dark blotches on the sides, which in the 
plainer colored specimens, having no dark bars, are reduced to 3, viz, one above 
origin of lateral line, one on side above origin of anal, and the third on upper half 
of base of caudal. 
Many specimens, ranging from 25 to 185 millimeters in length, were preserved. 
Only one specimen (185 millimeters long) has the exact color pattern described and 
figured by Giinther in the original account of the species. Others, however, approach 
this pattern. In structure the present species is related to tlie other "Guapote," 
C. motaguense, common in certain lakes in El Salvador. C. trimacvlatum, however, 
has a much deeper body, particularly in the adult. When a large series of various 
sizes is measured, however, due to variation in depth with age, the extremes for 
the two species, as shown in the description, overlap, but the average difference 
in depth remains evident. The average depth in the length of the body in 13 
specimens of C. trimaculatu/n, ranging in lengtli from 40 to 185 millimeters, is 2.57. 
In a similar series of C. motaguense it is 2.29. The difference in depth is not as 
great among the young as it is among larger fish. For example, in 5 specimens of 
C. trimaculatum, ranging in lengtli from 127 to 185 millimeters, the range of the 
depth in the length is 2.12 to 2.47 (average 2.22). In 0. motaguense, in an identical 
series, the range is 2.54 to 2.74 (average 2.65). In C. trimaculatum the head and 
snout are somewhat narrower and more pointed and the cheeks are not as deep 
and are provided with only about 6 rows of scales instead of about 8, as in C. 
motaguense. The differences in color, as shown in the description, are pronounced. 
This species, although taken in streams in a few instances, is principally a 
lake fish. In Lakes Guija and Ilopango it is the most important food fish. The 
fish is said to reach a length of 355 millimeters, but the largest individual seen by 
us was only 270 millimeters long. 
This "Guapote" is taken with hook and line, with trot lines, and with cast 
nets. In Lake Ilopango, a deep clear lake, the Indians, when fishing in deep water, 
dive and cast their nets under water. In the quality of its flesh this species ranks 
with the other "Guapote" {C. motaguense) taken in most lakes in El Salvador. It 
undoubtedly is the most handsome of all the fresh-water fishes of El Salvador, 
having both a pretty shape and pleasing color. 
According to a native fisherman at Lake Ilopango this fish spawns from August 
to October in water varying from very shallow to 6 meters in depth. It builds nests, 
and the eggs and young are guarded by the adults for some time after hatching. 
The sexual organs in the specimens examined (taken during January) apparently 
were in the early stages of development, showing that the spawning season was 
