Green chromide

Green chromide
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Family: Cichlidae
Genus: Etroplus
Species: E. suratensis
Binomial name
Etroplus suratensis
(Bloch, 1790)

The green chromide (Etroplus suratensis) is a species of cichlid fish from freshwater and brackish water in southern India and Sri Lanka.[1] Other common names include pearlspot cichlid,[2] banded pearlspot, and striped chromide.[3] In Kerala in India it is known locally as the karimeen.[4]

This fish is native to Sri Lanka and coastal regions of India.[2] Many populations are likely introductions.[2] It is also introduced in Singapore, where it occurs in estuaries.[5]

The adult is oval in shape with a short snout. It is gray-green in colour with dark barring and a dark spot at the base of the pectoral fin.[2] It commonly reaches 20 centimetres (7.9 in) in length, and the maximum length is twice that.[1]

This species lives in brackish water habitat types, such as river deltas. It eats mainly aquatic plants, but it consumes the occasional mollusc, diatoms, and other animal matter. This species engages in attentive parental care in which several adults care for each brood.[2]

In 2010 this species was named the official state fish of Kerala. The following year was declared "The Year of the Karimeen". Karimeen pollichadhu, a fried dish, is a delicacy served in restaurants. It is familiar to tourists, but because it is very expensive it is not easily accessible to the common man. Production of the species for food is expected to increase in the near future.[4]

They are more closely related to the Paretroplus fishes from Madagascar.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2011). "Etroplus suratensis" in FishBase. July 2011 version.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Abraham, R. 2013. Etroplus suratensis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 27 February 2016.
  3. ↑ Common names of Etroplus suratensis. FishBase. 2015.
  4. 1 2 Basheer, K. Karimeen leaps from frying pan to State fish. The Hindu 9 July 2010.
  5. ↑ Green Chromide. Guide to Common Marine Fishes of Singapore.
  6. ↑ Sparks, John S. (2004): Molecular phylogeny and biogeography of the Malagasy and South Asian cichlids (Teleostei: Perciformes: Cichlidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 30(3): 599–614. doi:10.1016/S1055-7903(03)00225-2 (HTML abstract)


For scientific information see Etroplus suratensis in Wikispecies

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