Uruguayan ichthyologists have described a new cichlid species in the genus Gymnogeophagus from the Uruguay River drainage, publishing its description in the most recent issue of the journal Neotropical Ichthyology.
Ivn Gonzlez-Bergonzoni, Marcelo Loureiro and Sebastin Oviedo named the new species Gymnogeophagus tiraparae.
It is distinguished from congeners by having the adipose hump on the head deeper than the upper border of the dorsal fin, the adipose hump with a vertical anterior profile extending from the upper lip to the dorsal-fin origin, absence of transversal bands on the body, two horizontal series of moderately elongated light blue dots between the dorsal fin spines, and a series of light blue stripes between the soft rays, sometimes merging with the second series of elongated dots and always with a red ground color between series of dots, and the caudal fin with dots vertically aligned on its distal border.
According to the authors, the fish was caught in large rivers with clear water, sandy or rocky bottoms, and little vegetation.
This species is named after Mara Luisa Tirapare, a Guaran woman who founded the town of San Borja del Y (no longer existing) that is close to one of the collecting localities for this species.
For more information, see the paper: Gonzlez-Bergonzoni, I, M Loureiro and S Oviedo (2009) A new species of Gymnogeophagus from the ro Negro and ro Tacuar basins, Uruguay (Teleostei: Perciformes). Neotropical Ichthyology 7, pp. 19"24.