
Mcmahan, Caleb D.;Matamoros, Wilfredo A.;Piller, Kyle R.;Chakrabarty, Prosanta
Vieja
Sign in to saveVieja is a genus of cichlid fish from Central America and Mexico. The majority of the species are freshwater fish found in stagnant or slow-moving waters of southern Mexico to El Salvador, but V. maculicauda, which also occurs in brackish waters, ranges south to Panama. They are high-bodied cichlids that reach lengths of up to depending on the exact species. Vieja feed mostly on vegetable matter, but may also take small invertebrates.
Species
GENUS
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumChordata
- ClassTeleostei
- OrderPerciformes
- FamilyCichlidae
via GBIF
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 119
- With media
- 15
- Family
- Cichlidae
- Collections
- ECOSUR, NCSM, UMMZ
- Recorded in
- Guatemala, United States, Belize
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
2 sectionsContents
- Taxonomy and species
- References
Vieja is a genus of cichlid fish from Central America and Mexico. The majority of the species are freshwater fish found in stagnant or slow-moving waters of southern Mexico to El Salvador, but V. maculicauda, which also occurs in brackish waters, ranges south to Panama. They are high-bodied cichlids that reach lengths of up to depending on the exact species. Vieja feed mostly on vegetable matter, but may also take small invertebrates.
==Taxonomy and species== Historically, Vieja was included in Cichlasoma. Once recognized as its own genus, it sometimes included most of the superficially similar, relatively large and high-bodied cichlids of Central America and southern Mexico, but several of these are now considered to belong to separate genera: Chuco, Cincelichthys, Isthmoheros, Kihnichthys, Maskaheros and Oscura (Oscuro might still be better merged with Vieja, but this remains unconfirmed). Conversely, Vieja has sometimes been included in Paraneetroplus.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Vieja” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.