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Geophagus

Poole, Karen E.

EntityQ1754747· pop 24· linked from 19 articles

Geophagus is a genus of cichlids that mainly live in South America as far south as Argentina and Uruguay, but a single species, G. crassilabris is from Panama. They are found in a wide range of freshwater habitats. They are part of a group popularly known as eartheaters and mostly feed by picking up mouthfuls of sediment to sift out food items such as invertebrates, plant material and detritus. The largest species reach up to in standard length. They are mostly kept in aquariums.

Species

KINGDOM

  1. KingdomAnimalia
  2. PhylumChordata
  3. ClassTeleostei
  4. OrderCichliformes
  5. FamilyCichlidae
Habitatbrackish, freshwater
Observations recorded3,012,139,120

via GBIF

Museum specimens

Specimen records
718
With media
2
Family
Cichlidae
Collections
CUMV, TCWC, USNM, RBINS-SCIENTIFIC HERITAGE, OS, AUM
Recorded in
Venezuela, Brazil, Paraguay, Suriname, Co-Operative Republic Of Guyana, Guyana

~5 min read

Encyclopedic overview

4 sections
Contents
  • As an invasive species
  • Taxonomy
  • Species
  • References

Geophagus is a genus of cichlids that mainly live in South America as far south as Argentina and Uruguay, but a single species, G. crassilabris is from Panama. They are found in a wide range of freshwater habitats. They are part of a group popularly known as eartheaters and mostly feed by picking up mouthfuls of sediment to sift out food items such as invertebrates, plant material and detritus. The largest species reach up to in standard length. They are mostly kept in aquariums.

==As an invasive species== Geophagus “surinamensis” was an invasive species in Malaysia, recently found in Putrajaya, the populations are now controlled by giant snakeheads.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Geophagus” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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