Cyprinodon brontotheroides

Description

Cyprinodon brontotheroides is a species of pupfish in the Cyprinodon genus. It is endemic to hypersaline interior lakes on San Salvador Island, Bahamas. It coexists alongside two other closely related Cyprinodon species C. desquamator and C. variegatus. Together, these three species represent a recent adaptive radiation, each having moved into a difference niche within their specialized environment. Each of these species are defined by distinct trophic adaptations that have affected various aspects of functional morphology. Cyprinodon brontotheroides is durophagous. It has a large in-lever to out-lever ratio for closing its lower jaw with force and a protruding, reinforced nasal region probably used for crushing its specialized diet of ostracods and gastropods.