Aulonocara steveni
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Aulonocara steveni |
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| Meyer, Riehl & Zetzsche, 1987 |
Aulonocara steveni is a species of cichlid endemic to the East African Lake Malawi . It occurs near Kande Island ( Terra typica ) on the Malawian coast of the lake and on the Tanzanian shore of the lake south of the Ruhuhu . The species was named after the fisherman Steven Longwe.
features
The fish species can reach a length of 12 (females) to 14 cm (males). Male Aulonocara steveni have a metallic blue head and yellowish-blue body sides that show eight to nine dark stripes. The intensity of the yellowish tint varies from population to population. The dorsal fin can also be blue or more or less yellowish in color. It is always lined with white or whitish blue, with some populations there is also a black vertical stripe. The anal fin is variable in color, in most cases more or less dark and covered with various numbers of egg spots. The females of all populations are relatively uniformly gray to brown with more prominent dark transverse stripes than in the males. Aulonocara steveni differs from the closely related species Aulonocara baenschi by the blue dorsal fin with black pigments, and from Aulonocara stuartgranti by the yellow tint of the flanks.
Way of life
Aulonocara steveni occurs in shallow water with a maximum depth of 20 meters over mixed soils with rocks and sediment and feeds on soft invertebrates. Males are territorial and maintain small territories in the middle of which there is a small hollow used for spawning . Females and adolescent males live in small schools. Like all haplochromine cichlids, Aulonocara steveni is a mouthbrooder in which the female takes care of the brood.
literature
- Andreas Spreinat: Lake Malawi cichlids from Tanzania. Unitext Verlag, 1994, ISBN 3-926142-42-1 . Pages 54–56.
Web links
- Aulonocara steveni on Fishbase.org (English)