Editing Cichlid (section)

==Distribution and habitat==
[[File:Tilapia mariae Australia.jpg|thumb|left|210px|''[[Pelmatolapia mariae]]'', caught on a hook and line, in Australia: Originally from Africa, the species established feral populations in Australia.<ref name=Koehn>{{cite journal |last1=Koehn |first1=John D. |last2=MacKenzie |first2=Rachel F. |title=Priority management actions for alien freshwater fish species in Australia |journal=New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research |date=August 2004 |volume=38 |issue=3 |pages=457–472 |doi=10.1080/00288330.2004.9517253 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2004NZJMF..38..457K |s2cid=83569110 }}</ref>]]

Cichlids are one of the largest vertebrate families in the world. They are most diverse in Africa and South America. Africa alone is  host to at least an estimated 1,600&nbsp;species.<ref name=Nelson/> [[Central America]] and [[Mexico]] have about 120&nbsp;species, as far north as the [[Rio Grande]] in [[South Texas]]. [[Madagascar]] has its own distinctive species (''[[Katria katria|Katria]]'', ''[[Oxylapia]]'', ''[[Paratilapia]]'', ''[[Paretroplus]]'', ''[[Ptychochromis]]'', and ''[[Ptychochromoides]]''), only distantly related to those on the African mainland.<ref name="fishbase_CS">{{FishBase family|family=Cichlidae|date=February 2012}}</ref><ref name="Boruchowitz">{{cite book|last=Boruchowitz|first=D. E.|year=2006| title=Guide to Cichlids| publisher=T.F.H. Publications| isbn=978-0-7938-0584-6}}</ref> Native cichlids are largely absent in Asia, except for 9 species in [[Israel]], [[Lebanon]], and [[Syria]] (''[[Astatotilapia flaviijosephi]]'', ''[[Oreochromis aureus]]'', ''[[Oreochromis niloticus|O. niloticus]]'', ''[[Sarotherodon galilaeus]]'', ''[[Coptodon zillii]]'', and ''[[Tristramella]]'' spp.), two in [[Iran]] (''[[Iranocichla]]''), and three in [[India]] and [[Sri Lanka]] (''[[Etroplus]]'' and ''[[Pseudetroplus]]'').<ref name="Nelson"/> If disregarding [[Trinidad and Tobago]] (where the few native cichlids are members of genera that are widespread in the South American mainland), the three species from the genus ''[[Nandopsis]]'' are the only cichlids from the [[Antilles]] in the [[Caribbean]], specifically [[Cuba]] and [[Hispaniola]]. Europe, Australia, Antarctica, and North America north of the Rio Grande drainage have no native cichlids, although in [[Florida]], [[Hawaii]], Japan, northern Australia, and elsewhere, feral populations of cichlids have become established as [[Introduced species|exotics]].<ref name="Koehn"/><ref name="abc.net.au">{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/farnorth/stories/s1313845.htm |title=Tilapia :: Far North Queensland |author=ABC Far North Queensland |website=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] |access-date=19 April 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017061120/http://abc.net.au/farnorth/stories/s1313845.htm |archive-date=17 October 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="fishbase_convicts">{{cite web|url=http://filaman.uni-kiel.de/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=3615|title=''Archocentrus nigrofasciatus'', Convict cichlid|editor=Froese, R.|editor2=D. Pauly|publisher=FishBase|access-date=29 March 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201110621/http://filaman.uni-kiel.de/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=3615|archive-date=1 December 2008}}</ref><ref name="Yamamoto">{{cite book | author = Yamamoto, M.N.| author2 = Tagawa, A.W.| year = 2000| title = Hawai'i's native and exotic freshwater animals | publisher = Mutual Publishing | location = Honolulu, Hawaii | pages = 200}}</ref><ref name="Page">{{cite book | author = Page, L.M. |author2 = Burr, B.M. | year = 1991| title = A field guide to freshwater fishes of North America north of Mexico| url = https://archive.org/details/fieldguidetofres00lawr | url-access = registration | publisher = Houghton Mifflin Company | location = Boston | pages = [https://archive.org/details/fieldguidetofres00lawr/page/432 432] | isbn = 978-0-395-35307-3}}</ref><ref name="GulfStateMarine">{{cite web|author=University of Southern Mississippi/College of Marine Sciences/Gulf Coast Research Laboratory |title=Fact Sheet for Tilapia zilli (Gervais, 1848) |publisher=Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission |date=3 August 2005 |url=http://nis.gsmfc.org/nis_factsheet2.php?toc_id=200 |access-date=10 February 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070818063521/http://nis.gsmfc.org/nis_factsheet2.php?toc_id=200 |archive-date=18 August 2007}}</ref><ref name="Fuller">{{cite web | last1=Fuller | first1=Pam L. | first2=Leo G. |last2=Nico | title=Nonindigenous Fishes of Florida – With a Focus on South Florida | publisher=[[United States Geological Survey#Coastal and Marine Science Center|U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Coastal and Marine Science Center]] | date=11 October 2002 | url=http://sofia.usgs.gov/sfrsf/rooms/species/invasive/focus/
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030115221654/http://sofia.usgs.gov/sfrsf/rooms/species/invasive/focus/ |archive-date=2003-01-15 |url-status=dead}}
</ref>  Although no longer present in Europe except as introductions, tilapias are known to have ranged as far north as Italy during the [[Miocene]].<ref name=":02" />

Although most cichlids are found at relatively shallow depths, several exceptions do exist. The deepest known occurrences are ''[[Trematocara]]'' at more than {{convert|300|m|ft|-2|abbr=on}} below the surface in [[Lake Tanganyika]].<ref name=Loiselle1994>Loiselle, Paul (1994). The Cichlid Aquarium, p. 304. Tetra Press, Germany. {{ISBN|978-1564651464}}.</ref> Others found in relatively deep waters include species such as ''[[Alticorpus macrocleithrum]]'' and ''[[Pallidochromis tokolosh]]'' down to {{convert|150|m|ft|-2|abbr=on}} below the surface in Lake Malawi,<ref>{{FishBase| genus = Alticorpus | species= macrocleithrum}}</ref><ref>{{FishBase | genus = Pallidochromis | species= tokolosh }}</ref> and the whitish (non[[Biological pigment|pigmented]]) and blind ''[[Lamprologus lethops]]'', which is believed to live as deep as {{convert|160|m|ft|abbr=on}} below the surface in the [[Congo River]].<ref>Norlander, Britt (20 April 2009). [https://archive.today/20120708055831/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1590/is_13_65/ai_n31583235/ Rough waters: one of the world's most turbulent rivers is home to a wide array of fish species. Now, large dams are threatening their future.] ''Science World''</ref> 

Cichlids are less commonly found in [[Brackish water|brackish]] and [[Seawater|saltwater]] habitats, though many species tolerate brackish water for extended periods; ''[[Mayaheros urophthalmus]]'', for example, is equally at home in freshwater [[marsh]]es and [[mangrove]] swamps, and lives and breeds in saltwater environments such as the mangrove belts around [[barrier island]]s.<ref name="Loiselle"/> Several species of ''[[Tilapia]]'', ''[[Sarotherodon]]'', and ''[[Oreochromis]]'' are [[euryhaline]] and can disperse along brackish coastlines between rivers.<ref name="Nelson"/> Only a few cichlids, however, inhabit primarily brackish or salt water, most notably ''[[Etroplus maculatus]]'', ''[[Etroplus suratensis]]'', and ''[[Sarotherodon melanotheron]]''.<ref name="Schäfer">{{cite book | author = Frank Schäfer | year = 2005 | title = Brackish-Water Fishes | publisher = Aqualog | isbn=978-3-936027-82-2}}{{page needed|date=November 2020}}</ref> The perhaps most extreme habitats for cichlids are the warm [[hypersaline lake]]s where the members of the genera ''[[Alcolapia]]'' and ''[[Danakilia]]'' are found. [[Lake Abaeded]] in [[Eritrea]] encompasses the entire distribution of ''[[Danakilia dinicolai|D. dinicolai]]'', and its temperature ranges from {{convert|29|to|45|C|F}}.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stiassny |first1=Melanie L. J. |last2=Marchi |first2=Giuseppe De |last3=Lamboj |first3=Anton |title=A new species of Danakilia (Teleostei, Cichlidae) from Lake Abaeded in the Danakil Depression of Eritrea (East Africa) |journal=Zootaxa |date=29 November 2010 |volume=2690 |issue=1 |pages=43–52 |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.2690.1.4 |s2cid=87705274 |url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/51ff/077f4371672caa31f82b33e56ce59c63368b.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200212121742/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/51ff/077f4371672caa31f82b33e56ce59c63368b.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=12 February 2020 }}</ref> Although the vast majority of Malagasy cichlids are entirely restricted to fresh water, ''[[Ptychochromis grandidieri]]'' and ''[[Paretroplus polyactis]]'' are commonly found in coastal brackish water and apparently are salt tolerant,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stiassny |first1=Melanie L.J |last2=Sparks |first2=John S |date=2006 |title=Phylogeny and Taxonomic Revision of the Endemic Malagasy Genus Ptychochromis (Teleostei: Cichlidae), with the Description of Five New Species and a Diagnosis for Katria, New Genus |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/itempdf/280948 |journal=American Museum Novitates |issue=3535 |page=1 |doi=10.1206/0003-0082(2006)3535[1:PATROT]2.0.CO;2 |s2cid=322493}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sparks |first1=John S. |date=2008 |title=Phylogeny of the Cichlid Subfamily Etroplinae and Taxonomic Revision of the Malagasy Cichlid Genus Paretroplus (Teleostei: Cichlidae) |journal=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History |volume=314 |issue=1 |page=1 |doi=10.1206/314.1 |s2cid=84071748}}</ref> as is also the case for ''[[Orange chromide|Etroplus maculatus]]'' and ''[[Green chromide|E. suratensis]]'' from India and Sri Lanka.<ref>{{FishBase|genus=Etroplus|species=maculatus|date=July 2011}}</ref><ref>{{FishBase|genus=Etroplus|species=suratensis|date=July 2011}}</ref>