Iodotropheus sprengerae
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Iodotropheus sprengerae |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Iodotropheus sprengerae | ||||||||||||
| Oliver & Loiselle , 1972 |
Iodotropheus sprengerae is a species of cichlid thatoccursin the rocky littoral of the East African Lake Malawi . The species was named after Kappy Sprenger, a Californian aquarist who made the authors of the first description aware of the species' independence.
features
Iodotropheus sprengerae is a maximum of about 10.8 cm long, the female remains smaller. The body is a little more compact than that of most other Mbuna and strongly flattened on the sides. The head profile is steep, the mouth terminal, with the lower jaw protruding slightly. The basic color is brownish-purple to red-brown. The flanks are bluish-purple, the head and back are rather red- or rust-brown, the belly grayish-white to light brown. The dorsal fin is orange to rust-brown, lined with a dark front, the anal fin is lined with purple and orange, and has one to five egg spots that are not darkly bordered. The caudal fin can be orange to rust-brown and has a bluish shimmer.
- Fins formula : dorsal XVII – XVIII / 8–9, anal III / 7–8.
- Scale formula : mLR 31, SL 21/10.
There are 7 to 9 gill rakes on the first ceratobranchial and 1 to 3 gill rakes on the first epibranchial.
Way of life
Iodotropheus sprengerae only lives in the rocky littoral of Mazinzi Bay, the southeastern part of Lake Malawi. The species has been proven so far at the Boadzulu Island, the Makokola Reef and the Chinyankwazi Islands, as well as the Chinyamwezi Islands. Although it belongs to the Mbuna, it not only feeds on growth, but is an opportunistic omnivore and, unlike other Mbuna, does not form territory and is not very aggressive. Like almost all Malawi cichlids, Iodotropheus sprengerae is a mouthbrooder .
literature
- MK Oliver & PV Loiselle 1972: A new genus and species of cichlid of the mbuna group (Pisces: Cichlidae) from Lake Malawi (PDF; 414 kB). Revue de Zoologie et de Botanique Africaines, 86: 309-320.
- Günther Sterba : The world's freshwater fish. 2nd Edition. Urania, Leipzig / Jena / Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-332-00109-4 .
- Erwin Schraml: Iodotropheus sprengerae. In: Claus Schaefer, Torsten Schröer (Hrsg.): The large lexicon of aquaristics. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-8001-7497-9 , p. 523 f.
Web links
- Iodotropheus sprengerae on Fishbase.org (English)
- Iodotropheus sprengerae in the Red List of Threatened Species of the IUCN 2013.2. Posted by: Kasembe, J., 2006. Retrieved February 3, 2014.