Haplochromis nyererei
Haplochromis nyererei | ||||||||||||
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Scientific name | ||||||||||||
Haplochromis nyererei | ||||||||||||
Witte-Maas & Witte , 1985 |
Haplochromis nyererei is a species of cichlid endemic to Lake Victoria in East Africa. It is only known from the Speke Golf and the Mwanza Golf in the southern Tanzanian section of the lake and was named in honor of the first President of Tanzania Julius Nyerere .
features
The species becomes 8 to 10 cm long and has a typical Haplochromis shape with a beefy head and a large mouth. While the females look rather inconspicuous and have a gray-brown to light brown basic color with a metallic sheen over them, sexually mature males have a strong red-colored forehead, neck and back as well as a blue-black throat, chest and stomach area. The sides of the body are yellow-green and patterned with several dark horizontal stripes. The pelvic fins are black, the anal fin, which has two to four egg spots , light blue. The dorsal fin is red in the area close to the body, otherwise light blue, the caudal fin is red in the outer areas.
Way of life
Haplochromis nyererei only lives in the rock zone in very shallow water at depths of 0.5 to 4 meters. It feeds on algae, insects, especially mosquito larvae and zooplankton . Like all Haplochromis species, it is a mouthbrooder .
Systematics
The type was in 1985 by Witte Maas and Witte described and very species-rich collection genus Haplochromis assigned. In 1998, Seehausen and Lippitsch assigned the species to the newly introduced genus Pundamilia , which has not yet found general recognition. Today the species is listed in various sources either as Haplochromis nyererei or as Pundamilia nyererei .
Danger
Haplochromis nyererei is relatively common in the Speke and Mwanza Gulf and the IUCN classifies the species as not endangered (“Least Concern”). A possible future endangerment of the species is seen in the possible hybridization with other, closely related species (e.g. with Haplochromis sauvagei ), since the reduced visibility of the water due to increasing water pollution makes it difficult to recognize the species and to choose the right sexual partner.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Horst Linke, Wolfgang Staeck: African cichlids, cichlids from East Africa. Page 54, Tetra Verlag, 1981, ISBN 3-8974-5103-4
- ↑ Seehausen, O., Lippitsch, E., Bouton, N. & Zwennes, H. (1998): Mbipi, the rock-dwelling cichlids of Lake Victoria: description of three new genera and 15 new species . Ichthyol. Explor. Freshwaters, 9 (2): 129-228.
- ↑ Haplochromis nyererei in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2010. Posted by: Witte, F., de Zeeuw, MP & Brooks, E., 2010. Accessed August 6, 2012th
Web links
- Haplochromis nyererei on Fishbase.org (English)