''Bathybates ferox'' is a species of

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

in the family Cichlidae. It is found in Burundi, the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

, and

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

is Lake Tanganyika where it lives in shallow water and is exclusively piscivorous. The IUCN has assessed it as being a "

least-concern species A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

Description

''Bathybates ferox'' is a fairly deep-bodied cichlid with a silvery body with blue markings. The mouth is large and the teeth are sharp and conical. The maximum total length of this fish is about .

Distribution

''Bathybates ferox'' is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to Lake Tanganyika, being found in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Tanzania and Zambia. It is sometimes found in the aquarium industry where it is considered very passive and easy to keep if maintained to themselves and with very few to no decorations in the aquarium. It does best in very hard water with a pH of 8.6 and a temperature of about .

Ecology

''Bathybates ferox'' is a

piscivore A piscivore () is a carnivorous animal that eats primarily fish. The name ''piscivore'' is derived . Piscivore is equivalent to the Greek-derived word ichthyophage, both of which mean "fish eater". Fish were the diet of early tetrapod evoluti ...

, chasing and feeding on smaller fish. Like other cichlids, ''Bathybates ferox'' is a mouth-brooder. The eggs, with a diameter of , are some of the largest in the family Cichlidae.

Status

''Bathybates ferox'' is found only in Lake Tanganyika where it is described as widespread and abundant. It is a benthic species living in warm shallow water, possibly at depths down to about . No specific threats have been identified, and the main threats it faces are from the lowering of the water quality due to pollution, disturbance to the habitat and over-fishing. The

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of nat ...

has classified the conservation status of this fish as being of "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3318998 ferox Taxa named by George Albert Boulenger Fish described in 1898 Fish of Lake Tanganyika Fish of Burundi Fish of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Fish of Tanzania Fish of Zambia Taxonomy articles created by Polbot