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| One of themes common to the articles in this issue is that the world
of cichlids is still very much in flux. Names continue to change. On the
one hand, some people find this incredibly irritating. There is no question
that instability of names creates problems in every corner of the hobby,
from collectors, exporters, and importers right down to keeping track of
Breeders Award Points at a local club: names that change make everyone’s
life a little harder.
But, on the other hand, the constant changing of names is just the surface manifestation of two incredibly wonderful phenomena going on behind the scenes. First, we are discovering new species and subspecies all the time. The closer we look, the more we find and there is no end in sight. Where we thought there was one species, there often turns out to be two (or more) upon closer inspection. Secondly, we are learning more and more about these fishes: their complex lives, their intriguing distributions in latitude, longitude, and depth, their subtle color variations and their hidden behavioral secrets that only careful observation can reveal, often in the hands (and tanks) of a skilled aquarist. This is something to really enjoy and celebrate. Yes, it means that sometimes you are going to have to suffer some inconvenience when a favorite name changes, or you find out that the fish that we have all called species X is not actually the true species X, but, that means that there is yet another species out there, the true X, and who knows what wonderful secrets that fish has yet to reveal. Be sure to take time to really watch your fish; they have so many stories to tell! |
Ron Coleman, Editor
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