Astronotus

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Superclassis/Classis: Actinopterygii
Classis/Subclassis: Actinopteri
Subclassis/Infraclassis: Neopterygii
Infraclassis: Teleostei
Megacohors: Osteoglossocephalai
Supercohors: Clupeocephala
Cohors: Euteleosteomorpha
Subcohors: Neoteleostei
Infracohors: Eurypterygia
Sectio: Ctenosquamata
Subsectio: Acanthomorphata
Divisio/Superordo: Acanthopterygii
Subdivisio: Percomorphaceae
Series: Ovalentaria
Superordo: Cichlomorphae
Ordo: Cichliformes

Familia: Cichlidae
Subfamilia: Astronotinae
Genus: Astronotus
Species: A. ocellatus – A. crassipinnis – A. mikoljii –
Name

Astronotus Swainson, 1839: 173

Proposed as subgenus of Crenilabrus
Type species: Lobotes ocellatus Agassiz, 1831
Type by monotypy
Gender: masculine

Synonymy

Hygrogonus Günther, 1862: 303

References

Lozano, A.P., Lasso-Alcalá, O.M., Bittencourt, P.S., Taphorn, D.C., Perez, N. & Farias, I.P. 2022. A new species of Astronotus (Teleostei, Cichlidae) from the Orinoco River and Gulf of Paria basins, northern South America. Zookeys 1113: 111–152. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1113.81240 Open access Reference page.
Swainson, W. 1839: The natural history and classification of fishes, amphibians, & reptiles, or monocardian animals. Spottiswoode & Co., London. 2: i-vi + 1-448.
Günther, A. 1862: Catalogue of the fishes in the British Museum. Catalogue of the Acanthopterygii, Pharyngognathi and Anacanthini in the collection of the British Museum. 4: i-xxi + 1-534.

Links

ION
Nomenclator Zoologicus

Etymology

From the Greek, astra = ray, and noton= back.
Vernacular names
English: Oscar fish, Velvet cichild
ไทย: ปลาออสการ์

Astronotus is a genus of South American fish from the family Cichlidae. There are two commonly recognized species in the genus (listed below), though genetic evidence suggests that additional species exist; several of these possibly distinct populations also have very different juvenile coloration from the two recognized species.[1][2] Both of the commonly recognized species are found in the Amazon Basin, while one of two also is found in the Paraná and Paraguay rivers. Astronotus species grow to 35 cm in size, and are monomorphic. They are opportunistic omnivores and consume a range of smaller fish, fruits, nuts, crustaceans, mollusks and other invertebrates in the wild.

One species, the oscar (Astronotus ocellatus), is popular in the aquarium trade. A. ocellatus forms monogamous pairs which spawn in the open, typically on a flattened stone or in a shallow depression. The juvenile colouration is different from that of the adult and may aid in camouflage of the fry.

In contrast, Astronotus crassipinnis is seldom exported for the aquarium trade.

In some classifications the Astronotus is the sole genus in the monogeneric tribe Astronoti of the subfamily Cichlinae.[3]
Species

There are currently two recognized species in this genus:[4]

Image	Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution
	Astronotus crassipinnis (Heckel, 1840)		southern Amazon basin and the Paraná–Paraguay basins.
	Astronotus ocellatus (Agassiz, 1831)	Oscar, velvet cichlid, and marble cichlid	Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, and French Guiana, and occurs in the Amazon River basin, along the Amazon, Içá, Negro, Solimões, and Ucayali River systems

References

"Astronotus mikoljii". 29 July 2022.
Perez Lozano A, Lasso-Alcalá OM, Bittencourt PS, Taphorn DC, Perez N, Farias IP (2022): A new species of Astronotus (Teleostei, Cichlidae) from the Orinoco River and Gulf of Paria basins, northern South America. ZooKeys 1113: 111–152. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1113.81240
Wm. Leo Smith; Prosanta Chakrabarty; John S. Sparks (2008). "Phylogeny, taxonomy, and evolution of Neotropical cichlids (Teleostei: Cichlidae: Cichlinae)". Cladistics. 24 (5): 624–641. doi:10.1111/j.1096-0031.2008.00210.x. S2CID 86253260. Abstract

Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2013). Species of Astronotus in FishBase. February 2013 version.