Astronotus ocellatus (Agassiz, 1831)

Çiçek, Erdoğan, Jawad, Laith, Eagderi, Soheil, Esmaeili, Hamid Reza, Mouludi-Saleh, Atta, Sungur, Sevil & Fricke, Ronald, 2023, Freshwater fishes of Iraq: a revised and updated annotated checklist- 2023, Zootaxa 5357 (1), pp. 1-49 : 28-29

Astronotus ocellatus (Agassiz, 1831) [I]—Oscar

Taxonomy. Original description: Lobotes ocellatus Agassiz in Spix & Agassiz, 1831: 129, Pl. 68 [Atlantic (in error): no types known].— Iraq synonyms: None.—Revisions: None.—Illustration: Silvano et al. (2020: 329, fig.) .

Status in Iraq. First record from Iraq by Jawad et al. (2022) from one of the branches of the Euphrates River to the east of Barnun city, ca. 5 km to the NW of Hilla city in Babylon Province in central Iraq.—Iraq materials: None.

Distribution and habitat. Distribution in Iraq: Euphrates River.—General distribution: South America: Amazon River basin, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, French Guiana, and Peru. Introduced elsewhere, including southern Florida and Puerto Rico ( U.S.A.).—Habitat: This species prefers to inhabit quiet, shallow waters in mud-bottomed and sand-bottomed canals and ponds. Freshwater.

Economic importance. Valuable for the aquarium trade.

Reasons of introduction. Ornamental fish industry.

Conservation. Not relevant (introduced species).