Maylandia lombardoi
Maylandia lombardoi, is a 13 centimetres (5.1 in) long freshwater fish from the family Cichlidae. This species is popular in the aquarium hobby where it is sold under a variety of common names including: lombardoi mbuna, kenyi mbuna or kennyi mbuna or kenyi cichlid. This species is sometimes seen in the genus Metriaclima owing to a dispute in which a minority of cichlid researchers do not consider Maylandia valid (see Maylandia for discussion. The specific name honours the exotic fish dealer John Lombardo.[3]
Maylandia lombardoi | |
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male (front) and female (back) | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Cichliformes |
Family: | Cichlidae |
Genus: | Maylandia |
Species: | M. lombardoi |
Binomial name | |
Maylandia lombardoi (W. E. Burgess, 1977) | |
Synonyms[2] | |
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Distribution and habitat
It is endemic to the rocky shores of Mbenji Island, Lake Malawi in east Africa.[2] The species is highly sexually dimorphic, females and juvenile males are pale white-blue with several blue-black vertical bands extending into the dorsal fin. Adult males turn bright yellow with faint brown bars crossing the body; fins are plain yellow with egg spots on the anal fin.
In the aquarium
Kenyi cichlids are sold for the aquarium hobby.
Reproduction
Like most mbuna cichlids, this species is a maternal mouthbrooder. When mouthbrooding, females may defend a small territory and assume the colouration of males.
Images of Kenyi cichlids
- A male M. lombardoi in an aquarium.
- M. lombardoi male.
- A female M. lombardoi in an aquarium.
- A female M. lombardoi with faint stripes.
- Juvenile female M. Lombardoi with faint stripes.
References
- Konings, A. (2018). "Metriaclima lombardoi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018: e.T61146A47237074. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T61146A47237074.en.
- Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2018). "Maylandia lombardoi" in FishBase. October 2018 version.
- Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara (4 December 2018). "Order CICHLIFORMES: Family CICHLIDAE: Subfamily PSEUDOCRENILABRINAE (l-o)". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
- Dick Mills, Aquarium Fish, Dorling Kindersly Books, 2000
- Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2006). "Maylandia lombardoi" in FishBase. 10 2006 version.