Boulengers snail cichlid
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Boulengers snail cichlid ( Lepidiolamprologus boulengeri ) |
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| ( Steindachner , 1909) |
Neolamprologus boulengeri ( Lepidiolamprologus boulengeri , Syn. : Julidochromis boulengeri , Lamprologus boulengeri , Neolamprologus boulengeri , Neolamprologus kiritvaithai ) is a Tanganjikasee endemic shell dwellers .
description
Male fish can reach a total length of a good seven centimeters, while females can only reach about five centimeters. The basic color is a light brown that is superimposed on the sides of the body by a bluish sheen. In the back region and in the middle of the body there is a longitudinal row of dark spots that are slightly shifted from one another and often also merge with one another. This creates an irregular, cloudy pattern of horizontal stripes.
The most important color distinguishing feature of this species is a noticeable large black spot on the dorsal fin . The pectoral fins are yellowish, the pelvic fins of dominant fish are blackish. All unpaired fins look sooty-gray. The front area of the anal fin is colored orange-yellow. The dorsal fin has a broad orange-yellow border.
The sexes are visually indistinguishable - except on the basis of size.
distribution
Boulengers cichlid is a species endemic to Lake Tanganyika . There it is found at the northern end of the lake, along the Tanzanian coast near Kigoma . It can be found at depths of 10 to 30 meters.
behavior
The Boulenger snail cichlid is a territorial fish, ie it is very territorial.
Territorial behavior
The male tries to dig a shallow hollow in his territory in the sandy soil, which is about 30 centimeters in diameter and in the center of which there can be up to three empty snail shells. The shells of the snails are placed by the fish with the opening facing upwards at a certain angle on the top of a small hill and buried there in such a way that often only their opening remains visible. For this digging activity, which is mainly done by the female, the fish have three different techniques available: pushing , digging and plowing . The common territory is defended against other fish by both the male and the female.
In contrast to other snail cichlids, the snail shells serve almost exclusively the females as a place of sleep and refuge. The reason for this is the considerable final size of the male fish, which ultimately makes it impossible for adult fish to swim into a snail shell. In case of danger, they leave their territory to seek shelter in rock crevices.
Breeding behavior
During the spawning season, the male animal behaves aggressively and defends its territory against intruders. The females guard the brood in a snail shell. The number of juveniles can be up to 50 juveniles. When spawning, the female is inside the snail shell, the male waits outside. When the eggs are fertilized, the male animal does not enter the snail shell, but fertilizes them from the outside. The reason for this behavior is also the considerable size of the males. Fertilization happens when the male animal deposits the sperm cells and then fans them in from the outside. The female then guides them to spawn with the help of their fins.
Importance to humans
The Boulenger cichlid is an interesting aquarium fish.
Systematics
An unusually large number of names have been used for the cichlid over the years, since systematists and taxonomists have changed their views about it again and again until recently. This cichlid was described as Julidochromis boulengeri in 1909 by the ichthyologist Franz Steindachner , who worked in Vienna, based on five fish that the Horn couple had collected on a trip to Africa the year before at Lake Tanganyika , and named after the French ichthyologist George Albert Boulenger . Boulenger later assigned him to the genus Lamprologus (1915), Poll assigned him to the genus Neolamprologus in 1986 . Today he belongs to Lepidiolamprologus . An invalid synonym for this cichlid is the name Lamprologus kiritvaithai , which is occasionally used in the aquarium literature and which was introduced by MK Meyer, W. Förster and HW Dieckhoff in 1986, because they erroneously believed that the fish was still undescribed.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Julia J. Day, Simona Santini, Jaime Garcia-Moreno: Phylogenetic relationships of the Lake Tanganyika cichlid tribe Lamprologini: The story from mitochondrial DNA. In: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. Volume 45, No. 2, November 2007, pp. 629-642, doi : 10.1016 / j.ympev.2007.02.025 .
- ↑ Lepidiolamprologus boulengeri on Fishbase.org (English)
Web links
- Neolamprologus boulengeri in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2013. Posted by: Bigirimana, C., 2006. Accessed January 20, 2014.
- Distribution map for Neolamprologus boulengeri at the IUCN . Retrieved January 20, 2014