Labidochromis gill flaring

[Sonny Disposition]

If you caught the gill flaring part of my talk last meeting:

was watching the beta male Labidochromis caeruleus in the 55 long today. He didn't grow that big, and his color isn't all that great, so I have him separate from the Labidochromis breeders in the tank next door.

Also in the tank are the assortment of feral cichlids I brought back from Florida--Mayans, jewel fish, black acaras, and the baby jaguar guapote.

They've all figured out just who it is who feeds them, so as I was passing by the tank, they all lined up at the glass right where I was standing.

The yellow lab immediately flared out his gills and strafed one of the Mayans. He did it a time or two again to the other fish while I was standing there.

I looked at his gill cover, and darned if he doesn't have a little black opercular spot, similar (but not as large as) the opercular spot on a bluegill.

The same adaptation, fulfilling pretty much the same function, on distantly related species from different parts of the world. Parallel evolution is really cool!