Petrotilapia tridentiger
No common name
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
There are no photos available for this taxon yet.
Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Cichlidae (Cichlids)
Petrotilapia
Petrotilapia tridentiger
Description
This species account was compiled from
FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2025. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version 04/2025.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting.
When citing, please reference the original source rather than this page.
Learn more about our species accounts.
Characters
Body shape: Elongated.
Distribution
Africa: Endemic to Lake Malawi. Widespread on most rocky shores.
Habitat Associations
Freshwater. demersal.
Biology
Inhabits very shallow, rocky biotopes. Feeds by using the tricuspid teeth and large mouth to feed from the sediment-free biocover (Ref. 5595).
Max length: 17.0 cm TL.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: in mouth; bearers (external brooders). Females takes the brood into her mouth and takes care of the young.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2018-06-20. Resilience: Medium (Fec<1000).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: commercial; aquarium: commercial.
References
Riehl, R. and H.A. Baensch (1991) Aquarien Atlas. Band. 1. Melle: Mergus, Verlag für Natur-und Heimtierkunde, Germany. 992 p.
Konings, A. (1990) Ad Konings's book of cichlids and all the other fishes of Lake Malawi. T.F.H. Publications, Inc. 495 p.
Maréchal, C. (1991) Petrotilapia. p. 374-375. In J. Daget, J.-P. Gosse, G.G. Teugels and D.F.E. Thys van den Audenaerde (eds.) Check-list of freshwater fishes of Africa (CLOFFA). ISNB, Brussels; MRAC, Tervuren; and ORSTOM, Paris. Vol. 4.
Comments On Petrotilapia tridentiger