I keep on wondering the reason why Peabass are in the cichlid family and LMB's are on the Centrarchidae family...
Pbass not 'true' cichlids?
- Thread starter balton777
- Start date
The reason Peacock Bass look like Bass is a term called Convergent Evolution. They occupy the same type of niche in their enviroment so they share most of the same physical features because of the habitat but they are from two different Families. Now the reason they Don't look like most other Cichlids is called Divergent Evolution where the same species take on different physical characteristics due to the same reasons for the Convergent evolutionary traits.
channarox;2221049; said:
I agree with this 100% and most of my circle of friends believe the same. I fell both are at least Top of the evelutionarie chart of cichilds in any case.
i was kinda shocked when i read the title of this thread. one of the first things i did when i got home from the LFS the first time i saw peacock bass was look them up online. EVERYTHING, not just a few things, but EVERYTHING said they were cichlids and they were from South America.
what surprised me was that they are also in FL and HI.. but i know that is because of men being stupid and dumping fish in non-native waters.
what surprised me was that they are also in FL and HI.. but i know that is because of men being stupid and dumping fish in non-native waters.
Gator;2221143; said:
I fully understand that, but the point is that there are a lot of other fish species that occupy the same evolutionary niche, and they do not look alike, as we all know.
Now I see no differences, beside colour, between P bass and LMB...
That is the thing about cichlids, They fill so many niches that by looks many would not think that some of these fish are in the same family, but they are... Look at some of the african rift lakes. There are fish that are somewhat similar to these, but not kept as much because they get so large... They are however definitely a terrific fish to keep for their amazing behaviors...
bigspizz;2220502; said:
Taxonomy is a very artificial and subjective area...
What is considered to be a single species/genus will surely be broken up or merged with others in time. I look at taxonomy as an artificial means of identification. When it comes to actual ancestral relationship, it is by no means a perfect science.
Even with DNA analysis... one technique says that if there is less than 3 percent difference between base pairs, the 2 organisms are the same species. That "3 %" is basically arbitrary, yet people place so much faith in DNA analysis, thinking it is an objective sure-fire way.
So what do you base it on? Morphology? As mentioned above, divergent and convergent evolution can make this difficult. DNA analysis isn't perfect either, and sexual compatibility may not be the key.
Taxonomy is cool stuff, and I think that this is a good question
Morledzep;2221897; said:
Actually, peacock bass were introduced to Florida by the fish and wildlife to keep the other non natives such as tilapia in check so they won't overpopulate the canals, lakes, etc. I believe.
Miguel;2221922; said:I fully understand that, but the point is that there are a lot of other fish species that occupy the same evolutionary niche, and they do not look alike, as we all know.
Now I see no differences, beside colour, between P bass and LMB...
There are differences that you can and cant see that separate PBass from Bass. One you can see is that Cichlids have one Nostril on each side of the head and the one you cant see is that cichlids small intestine exits the stomach on the left an all other fish it exits on the right. 2 other physical characteristics that separate PBass and LMB are Nuchal hump and the pharyngeal jaws.
