''Chalinochromis'' is a small

cichlid Cichlids are fish from the family Cichlidae in the order Cichliformes. Cichlids were traditionally classed in a suborder, the Labroidei, along with the wrasses ( Labridae), in the order Perciformes, but molecular studies have contradicted this ...

genus from the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

Pseudocrenilabrinae. These ray-finned fishes are endemic to

Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika () is an African Great Lake. It is the second-oldest freshwater lake in the world, the second-largest by volume, and the second-deepest, in all cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. It is the world's longest freshwater lake. ...

in the

East African Rift The East African Rift (EAR) or East African Rift System (EARS) is an active continental rift zone in East Africa. The EAR began developing around the onset of the Miocene, 22–25 million years ago. In the past it was considered to be part of a ...

. The

scientific name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

refers to the

bridle A bridle is a piece of equipment used to direct a horse. As defined in the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', the "bridle" includes both the that holds a bit that goes in the mouth of a horse, and the reins that are attached to the bit. Headgear w ...

-like markings across the heads of members of this genus. They have specialized jaws enabling them to feed on sponges. (2007): Phylogenetic relationships of the Lake Tanganyika cichlid tribe Lamprologini: The story from mitochondrial DNA. '' Mol. Phylogenet. Evol.'' 45(2): 629–642. (HTML abstract) This genus has a puzzling relationship with the extremely similar species placed in '' Julidochromis''. In their mtDNA NADH dehydrogenase

subunit Subunit may refer to: *Subunit HIV vaccine, a class of HIV vaccine *Protein subunit, a protein molecule that assembles with other protein molecules *Monomer, a molecule that may bind chemically to other molecules to form a polymer *Sub-subunit, a ...

2 sequence, ''Chalinochromis'' are closer to '' J. dickfeldi'', '' J. ornatus'' and '' J. transcriptus'' – in particular the latter two – than to any other living fish, while '' J. marlieri'' and '' J. regani'' are closer to '' Telmatochromis''. ''Julidochromis'' thus might need to be split in two, with ''Chalinochromis'' included in one lineage. Alternatively, there has twice been successful intergeneric hybridization between particular lineages of ''Julidochromis'' males and ''Chalinochromis'' females (males generally do not pass on mtDNA to their offspring). Yet another possibility is that ''Julidochromis'' is

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...

and includes ''Chalinochromis''; in this scenario males of the common ancestor of ''J. marlieri'' and ''J. regani'' would have hybridized with females of the common ancestor of ''Telmatochromis''. ''Chalinochromis'' are popular

aquarium An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...

fishes, and require similar care to ''Julidochromis''. Like most lamprologine species, ''Chalinochromis'' are secretive during spawning, often choosing a small cave or crevice to spawn inside. In the aquarium the species often spawns under flat pieces of slate.

Species

The three formally described species in this genus are as follows: * '' Chalinochromis brichardi'' Poll, 1974 * '' Chalinochromis cyanophleps'' S. O. Kullander, Mi. Karlsson, Ma. Karlsson & Norén, 2014Kullander, S.O., Karlsson, M., Karlsson, M. & Norén, M. (2014)
''Chalinochromis cyanophleps'', a new species of cichlid fish (Teleostei: Cichlidae) from Lake Tanganyika.
''Zootaxa, 3790 (3): 425–438.'' * '' Chalinochromis popelini'' Brichard, 1989 The two undescribed species in this genus are as follows: * '' Chalinochromis sp. "bifrenatus"'' * '' Chalinochromis sp. "ndobhoi"''

References

Lamprologini * Cichlid genera Taxa named by Max Poll {{Lamprologini-stub