Taxonomy & naming
Bujurquina mabelae was described in 2023 by the Bolivian ichthyologists Gonzalo A. Careaga, Guido Miranda-Chumacero and Fernando M. Carvajal-Vallejos, alongside its sister description Bujurquina beniensis, in a study working through the Bolivian Bujurquina housed at the Universidad Mayor de San Simón (UMSS) in Cochabamba. The genus Bujurquina was erected by Sven O. Kullander in 1986 for a group of biparentally custodial, delayed-mouthbrooding acaras pulled out of the catch-all Aequidens; the genus name is taken from 'bujurqui' (also 'bufurque'), a widely used Peruvian and Bolivian vernacular word for these little cichlids. Before 2023 the Bolivian Madeira-basin populations had circulated under broad labels — often Bujurquina oenolaemus or 'Bujurquina sp.' — and the new work clarified which lineages actually occur in the Bolivian lowlands. The holotype, an adult of about 3 in standard length, is deposited at UMSS (UMSS 18502); the type locality is the Río San Pedro in the Río Mamoré drainage of the Amazon basin, Chapare Province, Cochabamba Department, Bolivia, at roughly 16°49′S, 65°22′W. The Catalog of Fishes treats the name as valid and the species as a Bolivian Mamoré-drainage endemic; it sits in subfamily Cichlinae, tribe Cichlasomatini. The epithet mabelae is a patronym honouring Mabel Maldonado of the Universidad Mayor de San Simón, recognised by the authors for her contributions to fish ecology and her support of systematic ichthyology in Bolivia.
Morphology
This is a small cichlid: FishBase gives a maximum of 3 in standard length, so a large adult is barely three inches. Careaga and colleagues diagnosed it within the Bolivian Bujurquina by a suite of proportions — a longer and deeper head, a longer snout, a longer pectoral fin and a deeper caudal peduncle — together with a reduced number of scales in the E1 lateral series, the feature that most cleanly separates it from its Beni-drainage sister Bujurquina beniensis. Reported meristics run to roughly thirteen to fifteen dorsal spines with eight to ten soft rays, two or three anal spines with seven or eight soft rays, and about 23 vertebrae. The body is laterally compressed in the usual acara mould, with thin lips and conical jaw teeth suited to picking rather than crushing. Coloration follows the genus template: yellowish to greyish flanks crossed by iridescent stripes, a dark midlateral band condensed into a roundish blotch, and a below-eye (suborbital) stripe whose intensity changes with growth — the kind of age-variable marking that makes Bujurquina notoriously hard to tell apart without counts. Sexual dimorphism has not been formally described for mabelae; across the genus it is modest, with males growing somewhat larger and carrying the longest fin filaments and any caudal streamers while ripe females are deeper-bodied — flagged here as genus-typical, not species-specific.
Habitat
Bujurquina mabelae is a narrow-range endemic of the Río Mamoré drainage in the Bolivian Amazon — the eastern of the two great upper-Madeira systems that drain the Bolivian Andes and their foreland. FishBase records that it 'inhabits streams and riverbanks, with white and clear water' and is 'also found in lagoons of fluvial and tectonic origin,' a slightly broader habitat envelope than the strictly stream-bound congeners and one that takes in the oxbow lakes and floodplain lagoons of the Mamoré lowlands as well as flowing water. The type series came from the Río San Pedro in the Chapare of Cochabamba, on the humid Andean-foreland margin. No detailed in-situ water-chemistry profile has been published for mabelae specifically, so the water parameters given here are read across from the genus and the wider western-Amazonian acara guild — warm, generally soft to moderately mineralised waters — and should be treated as habitat-typical estimates rather than measured field values. No formal depth band has been reported; as a small fish of shallow streams, banks and lagoon margins, a habitat-typical range of about 0–7 ft is a defensible estimate. The species' occurrence in both running water and standing lagoons is consistent with the genus's general profile as a weak-dispersing lowland specialist.
Feeding
No dedicated diet study exists for Bujurquina mabelae, so its trophic role is inferred from its anatomy, its genus and the wider acara guild. FishBase estimates a trophic level of about 3.4, placing it as a small invertivore-leaning omnivore. The conical jaw teeth and the recurved-to-bicuspid lower pharyngeal dentition typical of the genus suit a generalist that picks small invertebrates, insect larvae, crustaceans and assorted organic matter from leaf litter and soft sediment along stream beds, riverbanks and lagoon floors, rather than a specialist. In its community it functions as a small benthic-leaning forager — the niche acaras fill across lowland Amazonia. As with most Bujurquina, captive fish can be expected to take prepared, frozen and live foods readily, consistent with an opportunistic wild diet.
Mating
Bujurquina mabelae forms monogamous pairs that practise biparental care, the social pattern that defines the genus. Detailed courtship has not been documented for this newly described species, but the genus is well observed and consistent: a pair forms, jointly defends a modest territory, and is comparatively mild — Bujurquina are generally peaceful, undemonstrative cichlids that do not bully tankmates except in the immediate defence of eggs and young. Because the eventual nest is a movable object the pair can relocate, much of the pre-spawning behaviour revolves around the two fish cleaning and testing a leaf, flat stone or piece of submerged wood together before the female deposits her eggs. Its occurrence in still lagoons as well as streams suggests the species is at home spawning over the quieter substrates such waters provide.
Breeding
The defining trait of Bujurquina is its mode of reproduction: it is a biparental delayed (or 'primitive') mouthbrooder, and mabelae is expected to follow the genus exactly, though no spawning has yet been reported for it specifically. Rather than committing to either substrate-spawning or mouthbrooding, the pair does both in sequence. The female lays her eggs on a movable surface — in the wild typically a leaf, in aquaria a leaf, flat stone or slate the fish can carry — and both parents guard and fan the clutch in place for the first day or two. They then take the eggs or newly hatched yolk-sac larvae into the mouth and brood them buccally until the young are free-swimming, after which the parents continue to offer the fry shelter in the mouth when threatened. Kullander interpreted this leaf-carrying-plus-mouthbrooding as an adaptation to the rapidly changing water levels of Amazonian stream banks and floodplains, letting a pair move a vulnerable brood out of harm's way. Clutch size for mabelae is undocumented; congeneric Bujurquina spawn on the order of 100–400 eggs, offered here as a clearly labelled genus-typical range and expected toward the lower end given this species' very small adult size.
In the aquarium
Bujurquina mabelae is essentially unknown in the hobby. It was described only in 2023 and does not circulate in the trade under its own name; published keeper accounts specific to it are absent. Any husbandry notes must therefore be drawn honestly from the genus and the broader acara guild, stated as such, with only the size data from the type series anchoring the care parameters.
For a fish topping out around 3 in standard length — perhaps 3–3.5 in total length for a large male — a dedicated pair is comfortable in a tank of roughly 20–25 US gal, with more room helpful if other fish share the aquarium. The substrate should be fine sand or soft, rounded gravel, since Bujurquina pick and sift the surface layer and abrade their mouths on coarse gravel. Cover matters: broadleaf plants, driftwood and a scatter of dried leaves replicate the litter-strewn stream and lagoon floor these fish come from and give them the visual breaks they need to feel secure. Filtration should provide gentle, well-oxygenated flow rather than a strong current — appropriate for a species that occupies quiet lagoons as well as streams.
Water chemistry should track warm western-Amazonian conditions: a temperature in the mid-20s Celsius and near-neutral to mildly acidic, soft-to-moderate water are a sensible default in the absence of species-specific field measurements. As with most soft-water Neotropical cichlids, hard alkaline tap water used straight is likely to suppress activity and may inhibit breeding; regular partial water changes matter more than any single additive. Outside of active breeding the species should be mild by cichlid standards, suiting a community of similarly sized, non-combative western-Amazon fishes — small tetras, pencilfish, Corydoras and gentle dwarf cichlids in other habitat layers. For breeding, the key provision is a movable spawning surface: a large dried leaf, a flat smooth stone or a small slate the fish can physically lift, because the leaf-carry behaviour is hard-wired across the genus and pairs denied it often refuse to spawn or abandon the clutch. Both parents must be present; a single fish cannot complete the delayed-mouthbrooding cycle. By analogy with its congeners the species is best regarded as an intermediate-difficulty cichlid.
Conservation
Bujurquina mabelae has not yet been assessed by the IUCN Red List — unsurprising for a species described only in 2023 — so it currently carries no formal conservation status (Not Evaluated). FishBase rates its fishing vulnerability as low; like other small, fast-maturing stream acaras it can be expected to have high resilience. It has no commercial importance and is not known in the ornamental trade. The relevant conservation consideration, as with all narrow-range Bujurquina, is its restricted distribution: confined to the Río Mamoré drainage in the Chapare of Cochabamba, it is exposed to whatever local pressures act on those lowland waters — deforestation and agricultural expansion (including coca and other cropping in the Chapare), road-building, and the sediment and pollution loads that affect Andean-foreland rivers and floodplain lagoons in Bolivia. None of this is documented as a population-level threat at present, but the single-drainage range means the species would warrant a formal assessment as more is learned about its distribution and habitat.