Crenicichla cametana Steindachner, 1911 Group: Reticulata Distribution: Rio Tocantins, Brazil. Type Locality: Rio Tocantins at Cameta, Brazil Size: 8-10 inches Comments: Occasionally imported. This Rio Tocantins endemic used to be exported from Brazil fairly frequently in the early 1990's when C. compressiceps was becoming popular. It is quite rare in the hobby now. It was described by PLOEG as C. astroblepa but that name is now considered a synonym. Aquarium spawning have not been reported. My experiences with keeping this fish led me to using numerous caves and hiding places to minimize conspecific aggression. Other species, especially large non-crenicichlines are left alone. This fish has an uncanny ability to dash up to the surface, snatch a food morsel with pinpoint accuracy and quickly retreat into its hiding place. It is a fairly sedentary species, as are most of the rheophilic reticulata-group members that have dorsoventrally compressed heads. The general coloration is a slate gray but males are sometimes black. Soft dorsals of the sexually active females are bright red. Ploeg mentions that specimens from the upper course of Rio Tocantins possess more prominent "slash" pattern. Described in: Anzeiger der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Klasse 48 (17); p 369-371 Back to ==> Home / Pike Photos / C. cametana Back to Specieslist Back to Photo Index Home Pikes Neotropicals Collecting Photography Personal Links Site map http://geocities.datacellar.net/NapaValley/5491 Latest update: 1 July 2000 Comments on this page: E-Mail me at kutty at earthlink dot net