Maylandia callainos
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Maylandia callainos |
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| ( Stauffer & Hert , 1992) |
Maylandia callainos ( Gr . = "Turquoise"; ( Syn .: Pseudotropheus callainos , Metriaclima callainos )) is an African cichlid that is endemic to Nkhata Bay on the west coast of Lake Malawi . It was released by humans at the Likoma Islands , Namalenje and the Thumbi West Islands.
features
Maylandia callainos has the typical elongated, laterally flattened shape of a member of the complex around Maylandia zebra . It becomes eight centimeters long. The only feature mentioned in the first description that distinguishes the fish from other species of the Maylandia zebra complex is the color.
Maylandia callainos is a polymorphic species that occurs in three color morphs. In the normal morph, males and females are monochrome light blue, the males with a radiant luminosity, a white-blue color is also possible. The females are simpler and have at most two egg spots . In the white morph, the females are albino-like, whitish in color, including their fins. The males are bluish. The third morph is whitish and shows black spots. Here, too, a bluish tone superimposes both the whitish basic color and the spots in the males. In both forms, which differ from normal morphs, females appear much more frequently than males. Young fish always show the bright blue coloration of normal morphs. The young fish of the two deviating morphs only change color when they are three to four centimeters long. On the north-west and east coast of Nkhata Bay there is a whitish population in which the fry are also white and which may represent an independent, previously undescribed species.
- Fin formula : dorsal XVII – IIXX / 8–9, anal III / 7–8.
- Gill rake on the first ceratobranchial (lower pharynx): 11–12; Gill rake on the first epibranchial (bone support of the upper half of the branchial arch): 1–3.
Way of life
As a member of the Mbuna, Maylandia callainos is an inhabitant of the rocky coast and the scree littoral of Lake Malawi and feeds primarily on algae, which it scrapes from the rocks. Like almost all cichlids in Lake Malawi, it is a mouthbrooder .
Systematics
The species had been known in the aquarium hobby since the late 1960s as Pseudotropheus zebra - "Bright Blue" or Pseudotropheus zebra - "Cobalt" and was only described as an independent species in 1992. It belongs to the relationship of the complex around Maylandia zebra, which currently comprises 24 species .
Danger
Due to its narrow distribution area, Maylandia callainos is classified by the IUCN as endangered ("Vulnerable").
literature
- Jay R. Stauffer Jr. & Eva Hert: Pseudotropheus callainos , a new species of mbuna (Cichlidae), with analyzes of changes associated with two intra-lacustrine transplantations in Lake Malawi, Africa. Ichthyol. Explor. Freshwaters 3 (3): 253-264.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Metriaclima callainos in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2010. Posted by: Kasembe, J., 2006. Accessed August 6, 2012th
