Fossorochromis rostratus
| Fossorochromis rostratus | ||||||||||||
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Fossorochromis rostratus , male |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Fossorochromis | ||||||||||||
| Eccles & Trewavas , 1989 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Fossorochromis rostratus | ||||||||||||
| ( Boulenger , 1899) |
Fossorochromis rostratus , also called five- headed mouth brooders in German, is an African cichlid species that is endemic to the East African Lake Malawi .
features
The fish reach a length of 30 cm. The body is elongated and laterally flattened. The body length is about 3.5 times the body height. The snout is twice the length of the diameter of the eyes. The mouth is terminal and pointed, the upper jaw protrudes, the upper lip is thick. The teeth, arranged in four rows in the upper and lower jaw, are very small. The gill rakes on the lower section of the first gill arch are long and thin. There are three rows of scales on the “cheeks”. The scales on the gill cover are large. The pectoral fins are two thirds of the length of the head and do not reach the base of the anal fin. The caudal stalk is 1.5 times longer than high, the caudal fin is indented. The scales have slightly serrated edges.
- Fin formula : dorsal XV-XVI / 11, anal III / 9.
- Flake formula : mLR 34–35, SL 1 23–24, SL 2 19–21.
Females of Fossorochromis rostratus are silver-gray and shimmer slightly brass-colored. Five, sometimes six black spots, some of which extend up to the dorsal fin, are located on the midline of the sides of the body. The fins are slightly sooty, the dorsal and anal fins are rounded. Males are yellowish or sandy in color, metallic blue or greenish in courtship mood. The belly two thirds of the body are then sooty, sometimes almost black. The spots on the sides of the body are not always visible depending on the mood. The dorsal and anal fin taper to a point. The dorsal fin is blue at the base, otherwise rather blackish, the anal fin is black. There are no egg spots.
Way of life
Fossorochromis rostratus only occurs over large areas of sand and feeds on small crustaceans, insect larvae and other small invertebrates. The species burrows itself in the sand for protection. Like almost all cichlids in Lake Malawi, the species is a mouthbrooder . Males are territorial, polygamous and aggressive. A clutch contains around 50 to 100 eggs. Eggs and larvae are protected by the female in the mouth for a period of 22 to 30 days.
literature
- Boulenger, GA (1899): A revision of the African and Syrian fishes of the family Cichlidae. Part II. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1899 (pt 1): 98-143 [1-47], Pls. 11-12. (online page 42 and 43 )
- Erwin Schraml: Fossorochromis rostratus. In: Claus Schaefer, Torsten Schröer (Hrsg.): The large lexicon of aquaristics. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-8001-7497-9 , p. 381 f.
- Günther Sterba : The world's freshwater fish. 2nd Edition. Urania, Leipzig / Jena / Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-332-00109-4 , pp. 759-760.
Web links
- Fossorochromis rostratus on Fishbase.org (English)