Lobochilotes labiatus

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Lobochilotes labiatus
Lobochilotes labiatus, drawing from the first description by George Albert Boulenger. The soft, fleshy lips of the living animal lie on the head. They have been pulled forward here to show their length.

Lobochilotes labiatus , drawing from the first description by George Albert Boulenger . The soft, fleshy lips of the living animal lie on the head. They have been pulled forward here to show their length.

Systematics
Order : Cichliformes
Family : Cichlids (Cichlidae)
Subfamily : Pseudocrenilabrinae
Tribe : Tropheini
Genre : Lobochilotes
Type : Lobochilotes labiatus
Scientific name of the  genus
Lobochilotes
Boulenger , 1915
Scientific name of the  species
Lobochilotes labiatus
(Boulenger, 1898)

Lobochilotes labiatus is an African cichlid species that is endemic to the East African Lake Tanganyika , as well as in Lukuga , the outflow from Lake Tanganyika to the Congo . The species epithet labiatus refers to the thickened lips of the species, which thus occupies a similar ecological niche in Lake Tanganyika,such as Abactochromis labrosus from Lake Malawi , Haplochromis chilotes from Lake Victoria and Amphilophus labiatus from Lake Nicaragua and Lake Managua .

features

Lobochilotes labiatus can reach a length of 37 cm, making it one of the largest cichlids in Lake Tanganyika, and is relatively high back and strongly flattened on the sides. The fish are yellowish white, brass yellow, light olive, beige or greenish gray and show ten to twelve dark brown to deep black vertical stripes on the sides of the body. Another dark stripe extends from the corner of the mouth through the eye to the nape of the neck. The fins are more or less transparent, the dorsal fin is orange with a black border. Females stay a little smaller and are less brightly colored. The anal fin of the males shows some orange-colored, black-edged egg spots. Characteristic of the species are the thickly raised lips, especially in older specimens, which extend upwards or downwards like hooks at their tips. These lips probably serve as tactile organs with which Lobochilotes labiatus locates its prey in the sand or in the growth. The jaws are covered with three to five rows of flattened teeth, with the teeth of the outer rows two-pointed, those of the inner rows three-pointed.

Way of life

Young fish of Lobochilotes labiatus live in shallow water on rocky banks, older fish at depths of 20 to 40 meters above stony bottoms. The fish feed on crustaceans, insect larvae, mussels, snails, diatoms and plant detritus . Lobochilotes labiatus is a maternal mouthbrooder (i.e. the female takes the eggs into her mouth) and does not become sexually mature until old age. Brood care takes three to four weeks.

Systematics

The way was through the Belgian-British zoologists 1898 George Albert Boulenger as tilapia labiatus described and 1915 by the same author in the genre Lobochilotes asked. Since then, Lobochilotes labiatus has remained the only species of the genus monotypical .

Danger

In the Red List of the IUCN of the status of the species is given as safely (Least Concern).

literature

  • Søren Neergaard: Tanganyika - Cichlids . Kernen Verlag, 1982, ISBN 3-87401-005-8 .
  • Georg Zurlo: Lobochilotes labiatus. In: Claus Schaefer, Torsten Schröer (Hrsg.): The large lexicon of aquaristics. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-8001-7497-9 , p. 600.
  • Günther Sterba : The world's freshwater fish. 2nd Edition. Urania, Leipzig / Jena / Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-332-00109-4 .

supporting documents

  1. ^ Sven O. Kullander and Tyson R. Roberts: Out of Lake Tanganyika: endemic lake fishes inhabit rapids of the Lukuga River. In: Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters. Vol. 22, No. 4, December 2011, ISSN  0936-9902 .

Web links