Damba
species of fish
The damba (Paretroplus damii) is a species of cichlid.
Etymology
The genus name Paretroplus is composed by the Greek Para (meaning similar to) and Etroplus (a closely related genus of Indian cichlids). The Latin species name damii honors the naturalist Douwe Casparus van Dam (1827-1898).
Description
P. damii is the largest Paretroplus, reaching the total length of about 17–40 centimetres (6.7–15.7 in). No sexual dimorphism exists in size or in other characteristics. These fishes have a rounded shape, with a light pink / grey colouration in absence of vertical barring.
Distribution
This species can be found in several river basins in northwestern Madagascar.
This includes populations in far northern Madagascar that some have speculated represented an undescribed species, but a comparison of specimens did not support this, instead maintaining them as part of P. damii.
In contrast, populations in the Mahanara River in northeastern Madagascar were formerly also included in P. damii, but these were described as a separate species, P. loisellei, in 2011, and populations in the Ankofia River basin in northwestern Madagascar (south of true P. damii) appear to represent a closely related undescribed species.
Bibliography
Eschmeyer, William N., ed.
The public source identifies “Damba” as species of fish. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Damba, species and fish.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 27, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q1940851. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1827, 1898 and 2011.
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This entry incorporates text from “Damba” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.