The reproductive strategy of the non-native predator cichlid Cichla kelberi was determined to explain its success after more than 60 years of being introduced into an isolated reservoir in southeastern Brazil. This was one of the first known translocations of the genus Cichla out of its natural range. Macro and microscopy characteristics of the gonadal development stages and the maturation phases were described, along with the reproductive features (size at first maturation size, gonadosomatic index and sex ratio). We hypothesized that the stable conditions of the reservoir, with low connectivity, weakly defined spatial gradient, and slight seasonal changes in environmental variables favour the equilibrium strategy that enable predators to have high offspring survivorship because of great parental investment in individual progeny. Sex ratio was well balanced with males and females reaching first maturity between 30.0 and 28.6 cm total length (LT ), respectively. The stages of oocytes (primary and secondary growth, vitellogenic and atresia) and spermatocytes (spermatogonia, spermatocytes, spermatids and spermatozoa) development were identified. Five phases of gonadal development (immature, developing, spawning capable, regressing and regenerating) were described for both sexes. A long reproductive season was found, with spawning peaks in August/September and, to a lesser extent, in April/May. Parental care and spawns in parcels (batch spawns) corroborated the raised equilibrium strategy that was effective in this isolated reservoir. This species developed reproductive mechanisms that fit to different environmental conditions, with multiple spawning being associated with lentic environments and asynchronous development of oocytes, which are released over long periods. The reproductive plasticity in reservoirs may be one of the main factors inherent to the successful of colonization and establishment of the peacock bass in the environments in which they were introduced. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

中文翻译：

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孔雀鲈 Cichla kelberi 的平衡繁殖策略促进入侵新热带水库

非本地捕食者慈鲷 Cichla kelberi 的繁殖策略决定了它在被引入巴西东南部一个孤立的水库 60 多年后取得成功的原因。这是 Cichla 属首次已知的超出其自然范围的易位之一。描述了性腺发育阶段和成熟阶段的宏观和显微镜特征，以及生殖特征（首次成熟时的大小、性腺指数和性别比）。我们假设水库的稳定条件、低连通性、弱定义的空间梯度和环境变量的轻微季节性变化有利于平衡策略，由于父母对个体后代的大量投资，使捕食者能够拥有较高的后代存活率。性别比例很好地平衡，雄性和雌性分别在 30.0 和 28.6 厘米总长度 (LT) 之间达到初熟。确定了卵母细胞（初级和次级生长、卵黄生成和闭锁）和精母细胞（精原细胞、精母细胞、精子细胞和精子）发育的阶段。描述了两性性腺发育的五个阶段（未成熟、发育、产卵能力、退化和再生）。发现繁殖季节很长，产卵高峰在 8/9 月，在较小程度上在 4/5 月。父母的照顾和包裹产卵（批量产卵）证实了在这个孤立的水库中有效的提高平衡策略。该物种发展出适应不同环境条件的繁殖机制，多次产卵与静息环境和卵母细胞的异步发育有关，这些卵母细胞会长期释放。水库中的繁殖可塑性可能是孔雀鲈在它们被引入的环境中成功定殖和建立的主要固有因素之一。本文受版权保护。版权所有。