The Happy Acara
When You're Smiling...
So why the name? Well, for a long time Laetacara curviceps and its close
relatives were thought to be small, but close, relatives of the blue acara,
Aequidens pulcher, and it is true that they are distant cousins. But it became
apparent that Aequidens was in fact a "composite genus" made up of a
number of different groups of species, each with a different ancestor species,
ie different genera. In fact work is still being done to sort out the various
groups from one another and give them new genus names where appropriate.
But it was obvious right from the start that the species that now constitute
Laetacara were a discrete group. Not only are they smaller than most of the
others, but they all have a feature in common that is seen in no other cichlids:
their facial markings make them look as if they are smiling! In fact aquarists
had spotted this long before scientists started thinking about it (often the
case!) and called them the "smiling acaras". And their new scientific
name took this fact as its basis - the Latin adjective "laetus" means
"happy" or "joyful". "Acara", as many aquarists
will already be aware, is a South American native name for many types of
cichlid, and one which figures in many of their scientific names as well as in
hobby names such as "brown acara"..... and "smiling acaras",
of course.
The specific name curviceps, meanwhile, means "with a curved head",
referring to the convex upper head profile of the species. In fact all the
smiling acaras have this feature, but it is slightly more pronounced in this
species than in the other ones known at the time when it was given its name.
In the aquarium hobby this species is often known just as "curviceps"
and also as the "flag cichlid". Unfortunately the latter name is also
sometimes applied to a very different and much larger South American cichlid,
Mesonauta festivus, better known as the "Festivum"; and it is not
unknown for confusion to occur, namewise, with the "flagfish" or
"American flagfish", Jordanella floridae, which is not a cichlid at
all (it is a cyprinodont). For these reasons it is best not to use the name
"flag cichlid" unless you use the Latin name as well, to make it clear just which fish you mean.
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