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A Virtual Museum on the State's Fish Biodiversity

Tropheops lucerna

No common name
Collection Details

Specimens

Photos

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Records

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes) Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri) Cichlidae (Cichlids) Tropheops Tropheops lucerna

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. Occurs in Ruarwe, Nkhata Bay and Lion's Cove.

Habitat Associations

Freshwater. demersal. depth range 2-4 m. Found in: lakes.

Biology

Found among the beds of Vallisneria in sheltered bays. Feeds by brushing loose algal strands from rocks, sand, and plant leaves (Ref. 5595).
Max length: 13.5 cm TL.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2018-06-20. Resilience: High (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).

Commercial or Environmental Importance

Fisheries: commercial; aquarium: commercial.

References

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) Pseudotropheus. p. 401-415. In J. Daget, J.-P. Gosse, G.G. Teugels and D.F.E. Thys van den Audenaerde (eds.) Check-list of the freshwater fishes of Africa (CLOFFA). ISNB, Brussels; MRAC, Tervuren; and ORSTOM, Paris. Vol. 4.
Konings, A. (2007) Malawi cichlids in their natural habitat. 4th edition. Cichlid Press, El Paso, USA. 424p.

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