 Most adult male cichlids, specifically in the Haplochromini tribe of cichlids, exhibit a unique pattern of oval-shaped, color dots on their anal fins.These phenomena are known as egg-spots and aid in the mouthbrooding mechanisms of cichlids.The egg-spots consist of carotenoid-based pigment cells, which indicates a high cost to the organism, when considering that fish are not able to synthesize their own carotenoids.