African jewelfish

Hemichromis letourneuxi is a small species of fish which has quite a long, thin body and a rounded tail and which has 13-15 spines in the dorsal fin and 3 in the anal fin. It has a highly variuable bckgound colour to the body which may be green-yellow to red-brown or even almost black, this colouration is dependant on various factors such as the sex of the fish, the season, the nature of the fish's habitat and stress. Breeding males may develop red colouration over the gills and underside. Both sexes have a limited amount of small, brilliant blue iridescent spots on the head, body and fins and these may be more obvious in breeding adults. It has a dark black spot situated above the lateral line on the flanks and smaller blotches on gill covers and base of the tail. They can reach a standard length of 12 centimetres (4.7 in) although it is normall a lot smaller and 7 centimetres (2.8 in) is more usual.