Tyrannochromis
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Tyrannochromis macrostoma , the type species of the genus. |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Tyrannochromis | ||||||||||||
| Eccles & Trewavas , 1989 |
Tyrannochromis is a genus of African cichlids (Cichlidae). They are endemic to Lake Malawi in East Africa. The scientific name of these piscivorous predatory fish is supposed to indicate the “dominant” position of the genus at the top of the food pyramid in Lake Malawi ( Gr .: “tyranos” = despot or ruler + chromis (genus of damselfish , in which cichlids were previously described))) .
features
Tyrannochromis species are large-headed and elongated and have an extremely large mouth that is cut straight. They reach body lengths of 23 to 41 cm, are silvery gray, beige, light brownish, bluish or almost black in color and show a longitudinal (one to two longitudinal stripes) and cross-striated melanin pattern . The throat, chest and abdomen are yellowish or orange in color. Characteristic of the genus is a comb-like growth on the upward-pointing branch of the premaxillary ( premaxillary pedicel).
species
There are currently two safe species in the genus Tyrannochromis . They can be differentiated by the length of the premaxillary pedicel and the color.
- Tyrannochromis macrostoma ( Regan , 1922)
- Tyrannochromis nigriventer Eccles, 1989
Of the type species Tyrannochromis macrostoma and two other species ( T. maculiceps (Ahl, 1926) and T. polyodon (Trewavas, 1935) ), only one specimen has so far been scientifically examined and it is possible that during the investigation further specimens of the two controversial species and the type species shows that the contested species are morphometrically within the values established for the type species, so that these two species would have to be synonymous with T. macrostoma .
literature
- Eccles, DH & E. Trewavas (1989): Malawian cichlid fishes. The classification of some Haplochromine genera. Lake Fish Movies, HW Dieckhoff, West Germany. 1-334.
- Andreas Spreinat: Lake Malawi cichlids from Tanzania. Dähne Verlag, 1994, ISBN 3-9261-4242-1 , pages 148-154.
Web links
- Tyrannochromis on Fishbase.org (English)