Caprichromis
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Caprichromis | ||||||||||||
| Eccles & Trewavas , 1989 |
Caprichromis : ( Lat .: "Capra" = goat + chromis (genus of damselfish , in which cichlids were also described in the past)) is a genus of African cichlids (Cichlidae). It is endemic to Lake Malawi in East Africa.
features
Caprichromis species are shiny metallic light blue, silvery or whitish in color and reach body lengths of 14 to 20 cm. C orthognathus is elongated, C. liemi higher back. As a diagnostic feature of the genus, the strong upward mouth, the strong, advanced lower jaw and a longitudinal strip which extends arcuately from the neck to the tail stem applies.
Way of life
Caprichromis species live on overgrown sandy soils and feed on eggs, larvae and juvenile fish of other mouth-brooding cichlids. They swim diagonally at the mouth-brooding females from below and ram vigorously against the bottom of the mouth of the females, which then spit out their mouth contents. This is then eaten quickly. Like most cichlids in Lake Malawi, the two Caprichromis species are oviphilic mouthbrooders .
species
- Caprichromis liemi (McKaye & Mackenzie, 1982)
- Caprichromis orthognathus (Trewavas, 1935)
literature
- DH Eccles, E. Trewavas (1989): Malawian cichlid fishes. The classification of some Haplochromine genera. Lake Fish Movies, HW Dieckhoff, West Germany. 1-334.
- Hans J. Mayland: Cichlids. Landbuch-Verlag, 1995, ISBN 978-3-7842-0507-6 , p. 266.
- Erwin Schraml: Caprichromis. In: Claus Schaefer, Torsten Schröer (Hrsg.): The large lexicon of aquaristics. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-8001-7497-9 , p. 192 f.
Web links
- Caprichromis on Fishbase.org (English)