Mangarahara Cichlid

The Mangarahara cichlid was first described as a new species in 2006 from the Amboaboa and Mangarahara Rivers near Mandritsara in northern Madagascar. Prior to its official description, it was sometimes known as Ptychochromis sp. nov. "Joba mena" or Ptychochromis sp. nov. "Mangarahara". "Joba mena" translates to "red girl", identifying the long, ragged, red-bordered fins of the male fish. This species can reach a standard length of 10 inches or 25.8 cm. It was given the species name insolitus (the Latin word for 'queer' or 'unusual') in part because of its peculiar appearance, featuring long tooth- or comb-like structures called cteni on many of its scales. This name was also chosen because after identifying a wild-caught holotype specimen, researchers investigated two captive-raised individuals that strangely lacked several of the defining characteristics for which the species was described. Researchers suggested this could, among other possibilities, indicate an unrecorded hybridization event or the existence of an additional, similar species or subspecies.