# Gymnogeophagus (ex)meridionalis?



## xrockx (Jan 17, 2005)

Is this Gymnogeophagus (ex)meridionalis?

Sorry about picture quality they really are more colorful with black on the upper fin.


----------



## edburress (Jun 9, 2007)

Probably so, it is definitely a Gymno in the 'rhabdotus' group. There are a few different populations of ex-meridionalis, and they all look largely the same.

All of the ex-meridionalis have been put in the 'rhabdotus' group and are listed with their location in quotations.

G. sp. "sequeira", G. sp. "centro", G. sp. "sur", G. sp. "sarandi", G. sp. "paso pache", and G. sp. "aguas blancas" are the populations that Felipe Cantera recognizes as ex-meridionalis on his site. Here is a link to his site, under "cichlids" go to "rhabdotus group" under "G. n.sp." and it lists all the populations in the rhabdotus group, and you can look at pictures of each. But like I said, a lot of them look very similar and I don't think anyone could tell you which population you have.

http://www.aqvaterra.com/

Hope that helps, I would probably just call it G. 'rhabdotus' (ex-meridionalis) :lol:

Ed


----------



## illy-d (Nov 6, 2005)

What about "el Norte" arn't they in that group?


----------



## edburress (Jun 9, 2007)

Yes, good catch on my mistake.


----------



## Dutch Dude (Sep 14, 2006)

El Norte is a name I belive Jeff Raps labeled them. Felipe uses the names of the location were they are caught.


----------



## illy-d (Nov 6, 2005)

^That could be... The first time I heard the term "el Norte" was from another importer of cichlids - Spencer Jack I believe his name is... You can read about his collecting trip to Uruguay here;

http://cichlaholic.com/archives07.html

Scroll down by date... On Sept. 4th 2007 he has a picture of a female, and further down on August 16 2007 he has a phot of a male as well as the collection site and a bit of a description of the area...

I don't know for certain if the terms or names that collectors like Spencer Jack and Jeff Rapps are the most current name given by ichthiologists or names provided by locals or whatever - but I sure do enjoy looking at their websites and seeing such gorgeous photos!


----------



## RayQ (Sep 26, 2007)

Spencer does his collecting trips with Felipe - the "Norte" just refers to the specimens collected in the northern part of the country. My guess would be that they use such a generic name to keep the actual collection point safe from over collecting.

I have seen Spencer speak at our local club about the last collecting trip from November 2008, I couldn't believe the variations of these Ex. Meridionalis from each body of water! I hope to go on a trip with them in 2009!

Ray


----------

