S. leucosticta, possibly a Peruvian variant due to the black block on the caudal peduncle. I really need to look into the variants.
I.D. My Earth Eater Please!
- Thread starter fishticuffs
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It's probably a Satanoperca leucosticta. It could also be the species in Justin's avatar 
Is it me or are the facial markings on mapiritensis and leucosticta somewhat different? Looks like leucosticta has more "broken likes" and mapiritensis has more randomly spaced spots....and mapiritensi has a lot more spangles on the forehead.
Is it me or are the facial markings on mapiritensis and leucosticta somewhat different? Looks like leucosticta has more "broken likes" and mapiritensis has more randomly spaced spots....and mapiritensi has a lot more spangles on the forehead.
Patterning can also vary significantly between individuals. Can also throw Satanoperca sp. "Sinuous" into the mix for very similar species.
peathenster;3854743; said:It's probably a Satanoperca leucosticta. It could also be the species in Justin's avatar
Is it me or are the facial markings on mapiritensis and leucosticta somewhat different? Looks like leucosticta has more "broken likes" and mapiritensis has more randomly spaced spots....and mapiritensi has a lot more spangles on the forehead.
I've done nothing but research Satanoperca over the last few months. Your right on the muzzle spotting being different. Leucosticta have more random placement/shaped spotting. Mapiritensis have very closely grouped small muzzle spotting that is consistant through to the front of the face, no barring. I've never seen a Mapiritensis without a the thick black line running along the top of the dorsal either.
JK47;3854867; said:I've done nothing but research Satanoperca over the last few months. Your right on the muzzle spotting being different. Leucosticta have more random placement/shaped spotting. Mapiritensis have very closely grouped small muzzle spotting that is consistant through to the front of the face, no barring. I've never seen a Mapiritensis without a the thick black line running along the top of the dorsal either.
so this one is probably a young leucosticta afterall...
peathenster;3855037; said:
The OP still has yet to confirm size of the fish but I believe so. This is a picture of a Satanoperca Mapiritensis at the 5" range from a friend in Poland (not many are keeping this species) who is trying to help me breed them and you can see what I am referring to with the muzzle spotting being consistantly spaced and small in size. Even at a young age is similar to adult patterns like mine in my avatar/photo albums. They are pretty hard to mistake once you know what to look for.
I don't think there are leucosticta from Peru, only S. jurupari.japes said:
I know someone working on a phylogeny of the Genus, though from the sound of it, it'll only make visual I.D. more useless than straightforward.
edburress;3855240; said:
I believed they were only from up north (Suriname/Guyana) as well until I checked Cichlidae.com to see one labelled as being from the Rio Mormon in Peru. S. jurupari are located in this system though (http://www.cichlidae.com/article.php?id=37) so it's possibly a case of the mixed up old ID's when people believed they were the same species.
