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Microchromis aurifrons  Tawil, 2011

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Microchromis aurifrons
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drawing shows typical fish in this Family.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) > Perciformes (Perch-likes) > Cichlidae (Cichlids) > Pseudocrenilabrinae
Etymology: Microchromis: Greek, mikros = small + see under Chromis;  aurifrons: From latin auri=gold and frons=brown, in reference to frontal coloration in males. This name is preferred to the widely used "Mbamba" - given as an informal name by Ribbink et al. (1983) -, because it refers to Mbamba Islet, near Likoma Island on the central eastern coast, far from that of the type material, which comes from the northwestern coast. Specimens from Mbamba Islet may prove later to represent a different subspecies, then the name "Mbamba" would remain available (Ref. 88848).

Environment / Climate / Range Ecology

Freshwater; pelagic.   Tropical, preferred ?

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Africa: endemic to Lake Malawi (Ref. 88848).

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 7.3 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 88848)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

This species of Microchromis is characterized by a blue-white pattern with dark vertical bars on body, enhanced in dominant specimens, where these bars almost hide the underlying colour; bars sometimes slightly extending onto dorsal fin (Ref. 88848). It is similar to the Maylandia zebra species group, from wchich it differs mainly by dentition: teeth on outer rows short and conical, regularly decreasing in size from symphysis to corner, vs bicuspid in Pseudotropheus (Ref. 88848). It differs from Microchromis zebroides by its heavily black pattern and melanic pattern not extending onto brow, which shows a brilliant blue to yellow hue, according to the locality; dorsal fin yellow, with black submarginal band and whitish marginal band (Ref. 88848).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator : Kullander, Sven O. | Collaborators

Tawil, P., 2011. Description of a new cichlid species from Lake Malawi, with reexamination of Cynotilapia afra (Günther, 1893) and Microchromis zebroides Johnson, 1975. Cybium 35(3):201-211. (Ref. 88848)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 109396)

  Not Evaluated 

CITES (Ref. 94142)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless




Human uses

FAO(Publication : search) | FisheriesWiki |

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Summary page | Point data | Common names | Photos

Internet sources

BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | DiscoverLife | Faunafri | Fishtrace | GenBank(genome, nucleotide) | GOBASE | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Scirus | SeaLifeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia(Go, Search) | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoobank | Zoological Record

Estimates of some properties based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805):  PD50 = 0.7500   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01000 (0.00244 - 0.04107), b=3.04 (2.81 - 3.27), based on all LWR estimates for this body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic Level (Ref. 69278):  3.3   ±0.4 se; Based on size and trophs of closest relatives
Resilience (Ref. 69278):  High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months ().
Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Low vulnerability (11 of 100) .