ahhhhh the florida mungrel cichlas....a long debated and complex life history of the florida pbass juan.....I have caught pure looking ocellaris and ocellaris x monoculus from miami area. It goes way back when the original young were brought from several different locals in south america for the project...back then most were just refered to as occelaris...while there were groups of monoculus brought in also. after the initial stockings by paul and others of F&G a sample group was taken from the canals and lakes for futher breeding in boca raton..many belived to be monocs and ocellaris mixed for breeding and hybrid offspring produced and re-released....so you still will find adults of true ocellaris with a clean green body and eyespot on top of the 3rd bar, but many are more monoculus like with the black inking throughout their bodies and 3 distinct black bars....and then the "in-betweens" ones that show characteristics of both fish. Some say they were hybridized to better suit the florida environment...others say it was just lack of knowlege back then....dunno for sure,but most of the pbass by approx 10" can be differentiated for sure. The original temensis that were released did not breed as fast in the canals...some say they were too small for breeding...others say that fisherman would take the "new looking" bass to fish and game stations for ID and reporting..thus killing an adult in the process before it got to breed.....there are none of the original canal tems but some private pond owners do have them there. but as for ID on your pbass...I say that they are south florida cichla....Hammocks local
