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: Pseudocrenilabrinae
Tribus: Perissodini
Genus: Plecodus
Species: P. straeleni
Plecodus straeleni is a species of cichlid fish that is endemic to Lake Tanganyika in East Africa. This species can reach a total length of 16 centimetres (6.3 in).[2]
Like all species of Plecodus, this fish is a scale-eater.[2][3] Unlike other members of its genus, it has a distinctive striped pattern and closely resembles the harmless Neolamprologus sexfasciatus. It uses this aggressive mimicry to be able to approach unsuspecting fish and rapidly take a mouthful of scales.[4] It also resembles the larger Cyphotilapia and has been recorded swimming among their schools, but this may be protective rather than aggressive mimicry.[4] Although it may attack the species it mimics, most victims are other species[4] and under some circumstances it will feed on fish eggs.[5]
The specific name honours the Belgian paleontologist and carcinologist Victor van Straelen (1889-1964) who was Director of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences.[6]
References
Bigirimana, C. (2006). "Plecodus straeleni". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2006: e.T60657A12381640. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2006.RLTS.T60657A12381640.en. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2013). "Plecodus straeleni" in FishBase. April 2013 version.
Takahashi; Watanabe; Nishida; and Hori (2007). Evolution of feeding specialization in Tanganyikan scale-eating cichlids: A molecular phylogenetic approach. BMC Evolutionary Biology 7: 195. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-7-195
Boileau; Cortesi; Egger; Muschick; Indermaur; Theis; Büscher; and Salzburger (2015). A complex mode of aggressive mimicry in a scale-eating cichlid fish. Biol Lett. 11(9): 20150521. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2015.0521
Nshombo, M. (1991). Occasional egg-eating by the scale-eater Plecodus straeleni (Cichlidae) of Lake Tanganyika. Environmental Biology of Fishes 31(2): 207–212. doi:10.1007/BF00001022
Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara (25 September 2018). "Order CICHLIFORMES: Family CICHLIDAE: Subfamily PSEUDOCRENILABRINAE (p-y)". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
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