Why are Wild Red Devils brightly colored?

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Empyreal

Empyreal

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Sep 2, 2013
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Las Vegas, NV
Sounds like a random question but its not. Got thinking of this looking at Rapps Labiatus he has available. First off, I am talking specifically about the wild species not home aquarium who may have been bred for color. Looking at an evolutionary standpoint I always wondered why these fish were so brightly colored. It would only seem to attract predators unecessarily? I know that they juveniles go through a fading process, possibly to have camoflauge when younger, but sub adults and adults can be very bright.

Now, Most animals who sacrifice "visibility" is due to attracting mates. But both genders of this species are colorful? And if it is true, then have you guys experienced something similar in your aquariums? Sorry to ramble just a thought I couldn't get out of my head. Some feedback would be awesome. Again, my focus is the reason for the evolutionary development of bright colors in Red devils. Any thoughts?
 
I have no idea if this applies in this instance but, a lot of times fish from murky, dark water are much more colorful than the same species from a clear water environment


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As one travels deeper in water, red becomes dark, almost black. So what we perceive as bright red and obvious at the surface, becomes camouflage below 30 ft.
This strategy has become apparent in another lake species in Central America, Paratheraps fenestratus from Lake Catemaco. The normal colored fenestratus have many blue and red spangles that provide protection at the surface, the species that live deeper in the lake, have a very similar coloration to the Amphilophus of the deep Nicaraguan lakes
 
duanes said:
As one travels deeper in water, red becomes dark, almost black. So what we perceive as bright red and obvious at the surface, becomes camouflage below 30 ft.
This strategy has become apparent in another lake species in Central America, Paratheraps fenestratus from Lake Catemaco. The normal colored fenestratus have many blue and red spangles that provide protection at the surface, the species that live deeper in the lake, have a very similar coloration to the Amphilophus of the deep Nicaraguan lakes
Click to expand...

So the Red is essentially a camoflage at that depth? So alot of fish that we keep (especially central americans) are only so prized as beautiful fish becuase of the depth they naturally live. Really interesting, about the multiple colors of fenestratus. So are these two different groups, or can single individuals within the fenestratus species change this color? Maybe this color different at different depths / water clarity, can play into color enhancement in our own tanks?
 
Empyreal said:
Sounds like a random question but its not. Got thinking of this looking at Rapps Labiatus he has available. First off, I am talking specifically about the wild species not home aquarium who may have been bred for color. Looking at an evolutionary standpoint I always wondered why these fish were so brightly colored. It would only seem to attract predators unecessarily? I know that they juveniles go through a fading process, possibly to have camoflauge when younger, but sub adults and adults can be very bright.

Now, Most animals who sacrifice "visibility" is due to attracting mates. But both genders of this species are colorful? And if it is true, then have you guys experienced something similar in your aquariums? Sorry to ramble just a thought I couldn't get out of my head. Some feedback would be awesome. Again, my focus is the reason for the evolutionary development of bright colors in Red devils. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

"The sparsely populated Nicaraguan lowlands are dominated by two large lakes, Lake Managua and Lake Nicaragua. Managua is more than half the size of Lake Okeechobee, Florida’s largest freshwater lake, and Nicaragua is over four times bigger than Okeechobee. Despite their enormous sizes, these lakes are very shallow, with an average depth of 30 feet (9 m) for Managua and 39 feet (12 m) for Nicaragua, so they are constantly agitated by the wind, reducing underwater visibility to a few centimeters. Useful underwater shots are often impossible to get."

http://gillgallery.com/midas-cichlids/
 
I've caught a bunch in lake Nicaragua, I fished around Granada, the water was murky, the labiatus were red orange and black, while the Citrinellus were normally barred with a few colored ones caught..
 
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