Nimbochromis
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| Eccles & Trewavas , 1989 |
Nimbochromis (from "Nimbus" ( Latin , dark cloud), refers to the drawing made of blurred spots) is a genus of African cichlids that is endemic to the East African Lake Malawi .
features
Nimbochromis species grow to about 25 centimeters long. Their shape is typical of haplochromine cichlids , moderately high back and flattened on the sides. The mouth is terminal, deeply incised and sloping downwards. Their coloring is characterized by a pattern of dark, spots, the edges of which are fuzzy and often merge with one another. The soft radiating part of the dorsal and anal fin is dotted.
Like almost all cichlids in Lake Malawi, the Nimbochromis species are mouthbrooders that spawn in shallow, self-dug hollows on the ground or on flat stones, and immediately afterwards take the spawn into their mouths. They are carnivorous .
species
The genus currently consists of five described species.
- Leopard mouthbrooders ( Nimbochromis fuscotaeniatus (Regan, 1922))
- Mouth-mouth breeders ( Nimbochromis linni (Burgess & Axelrod, 1975))
- Nimbochromis livingstonii (Günther, 1894)
- Polyspotted mouthbrooder ( Nimbochromis polystigma (Regan, 1922))
- Nimbochromis venustus (Boulenger, 1908)
literature
- Horst Linke, Wolfgang Staeck: African cichlids, cichlids from East Africa. P. 118, Tetra Verlag, 1981, ISBN 3-8974-5103-4 .
- Erwin Schraml: Nimbochromis. In: Claus Schaefer, Torsten Schröer (Hrsg.): The large lexicon of aquaristics. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-8001-7497-9 , pp. 705-707.
Web links
- Nimbochromis on Fishbase.org (English)