The Texas cichlid (Herichthys cyanoguttatus, formerly Cichlasoma cyanoguttatum) is a freshwater fish of the cichlid family. This is the only cichlid species that is native to the United States. The fish, also known as Rio Grande cichlid, originates from the lower Rio Grande drainage in Texas near Brownsville and Northeastern Mexico. Herichthys cyanoguttatus can grow to be over 13 in and are differentiated by their distinctive characteristics and specific habitat needs. This cichlid is known for its cream and turquoise spots. Adult males also develop a nuchal hump on their head. This cichlid also prefers the water temperature to be between 68 and(-) and are negatively affected by rapid changes in temperature.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Herichthys cyanoguttatus has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens122
BINs2
Marker genes1
eDNA detections5
Countries3
The DNA barcodethe species' typical barcode, built from every sequenced specimen
COI-5P628 bp consensus90 specimens
ACGT
▸ drag or hover over the strip to read any position — letter and how much it varies
Violet ticks below the strip = positions where individuals differ; flat = the species' unchanging signature. 98% of positions are identical in every specimen.
Where individuals differ — all 10 variable positions, in barcode order
Each circle is a barcode variant; bigger = more specimens, colour = region. Lines join the most similar variants and the tick marks count the mutations between them — a tight cluster is one “dialect”, a long line a more divergent lineage. Click a circle to list its actual specimens.
Diversity (π)1.3%
Haplotypes10
BINs2
Most divergent pair13.9%
N.AmericaAfrica
Closest relatives by DNA barcode
The species whose COI barcode is most similar to this one — a quick “who is this most like”. The percentage is how much the barcode differs; it approximates, but is not, the full evolutionary tree.
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★COI-5P
animal barcode
Organelle genome
Besides the big genome in the nucleus, cells carry a small, circular loop of DNA inside the cell's energy factories — the mitochondria. It is inherited almost only from the mother and is a leftover from ancient bacteria that moved into the cell. The mitochondrial markers above (ND*, COX, CYTB…) are read from exactly this loop. Outer ring = one strand, inner ring = the other.
▸ Tap any coloured segment — or a gene chip — to see what it is
◖ violet arc = the COI-5P barcode — the ~650 bp read used to ID this species
Pick a coloured segment on the ring — or a gene chip — to read what that gene does.
protein-codingrRNAtRNA
07Deep time~2.08 Ma lineage
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
DNA clock origin2.08 Ma TimeTree
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
DNA clock origin
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type7 252 records
Wild obs. + sensor2 939
Museum / vouchered4 220
Other93
Origin
Native275
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO7 448 km²
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy88% within 1 km
≤100 m 2 065≤1 km 262≤10 km 88>10 km 235
2 650 georeferenced · 289 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor2 939
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy74% within 1 km
≤100 m 1 954≤1 km 743≤10 km 626>10 km 320
3 643 georeferenced · 577 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence4 220
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions13 of 30 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
University of Texas Biodiversity Collections (UTBC)location not on record
2 295
Texas Memorial Museum, Texas Natural History Collectionlocation not on record
1 059
Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collectionlocation not on record
258
Mexico City, MX
244
Ann Arbor, US
41
Toronto, CA
35
Morelia, MX
34
Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record
30
Instituto Politecnico Nacional, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biologicaslocation not on record
23
ASUlocation not on record
19
Tapachula, MX
17
Louisiana State University, Museum of Zoologylocation not on record
16
Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record
16
Juriquilla, MX
14
Washington, US
11
University of Minnesota, James Ford Bell Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record
11
University of California San Diegolocation not on record
7
Mexico City, MX
7
New Haven, US
6
Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Moreloslocation not on record
5
Vancouver, CA
5
Chicago, US
4
North Carolina Museum of Natural Scienceslocation not on record
3
Southeastern Louisiana University, Vertebrate Museumlocation not on record
2
Stockholm, SE
2
Cambridge, US
1
Ohio State University - Fish Division, Columbus, OH (OSUM)location not on record
1
University of Alabamalocation not on record
1
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Fish and Wildlife Research Institutelocation not on record
1
Universidad del Valle de Guatemalalocation not on record
1
30 institutions · 4 169 of 4 220 vouchered records shown · 51 without an institution code
09Environmental DNA5 detections
Where the DNA of Herichthys cyanoguttatus was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found5
Studies independent surveys1
Countries2
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 5 detections have coordinates
Open the map2 countries0
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median26.7 °C 25.0–28.1
Seasonal swing summer↔winter10.6 °C
Max temp (day)30.6 °C 30.3–32.2
Min temp (night)22.1 °C 19.9–23.0
Precipitation145 mm/mo 68.3–188
Air humidity61.1 % 57.0–62.2
Moisture balance-45.6 mm/mo -95.6–5.00
Vapour deficit1,354 Pa 1,318–1,476
Wind speed2.30 m/s 1.80–2.40
Cloud cover22.4 % 22.2–31.6
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 5 detection points · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation10 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility7 252 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI5 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics122 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
Catalogue of LifeCOLtaxonomy↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗