Limnochromis auritus
| Limnochromis auritus | ||||||||||||
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Drawing from the first description by George Albert Boulenger |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Limnochromis | ||||||||||||
| Regan , 1920 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Limnochromis auritus | ||||||||||||
| ( Boulenger , 1901) |
Limnochromis auritus is a species of African cichlid that is endemic to the East African Lake Tanganyika .
features
Limnochromis auritus has an elongated, laterally flattened body and is 12 to 15 cm long. The head, eyes and mouth are large. The jaw teeth are conical, the teeth on the pharyngealia are molar-shaped. The number of gill rakes is 10 to 18. The dorsal fin has 14 or 17 fin spines. The species is light brown to beige, with the back slightly darker. On the sides of the body, Limnochromis auritus shows four or five dark, broad horizontal stripes that begin on the base of the dorsal fin, taper to a point and are no longer present on the silvery shimmering belly, and one or two longitudinal rows of bluish iridescent scales. The dorsal fin is lined with yellow and spotted yellow, the caudal fin and pelvic fins have a yellowish shimmer. There is a greenish to blackish spot on the gill cover. Males have pointed fins, females rounded ones.
Way of life
Limnochromis auritus lives on muddy and sandy soils from shallow water near the shore to depths of about a hundred meters. Like all Limnochromini , the fish are mouthbrooders , whereby with Limnochromis auritus , in contrast to most other mouthbrooders, both the female and the male muzzle, which requires a monogamous relationship at least until the end of the brood care.
Systematics
The species was in 1901 by the Belgian-British ichthyologist George Albert Boulenger as Paratilapia aurita described and 1920 by his American colleague Charles Tate Regan of the newly introduced species Limnochromis assigned. Several other species of cichlids that were subsequently assigned to Limnochromis are now listed in other genera ( Gnathochromis , Greenwoodochromis , Triglachromis ), so that today Limnochromis auritus is the only species in the genus Limnochromis .
literature
- Pierre Brichard: The Big Book of Tanganyika Cichlids. With all the other fish on Lake Tanganyika. Bede Verlag GmbH. 1995, ISBN 978-3927997943
- Soren Neergaard: Tanganyika - Cichlids. Kernen Verlag, 1982, ISBN 3-8740-1005-8
Web links
- Limnochromis auritus on Fishbase.org (English)