''Corematodus shiranus'' is a species of

haplochromine __NOTOC__ The haplochromine cichlids are a tribe of cichlids in subfamily Pseudocrenilabrinae called Haplochromini. This group includes the type genus (''Haplochromis'') plus a number of closely related genera such as '' Aulonocara'', '' Astat ...

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 ...

fish native to

Lake Malawi Lake Malawi, also known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Lago Niassa in Mozambique, is an African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the East African Rift system, located between Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. It is the fifth largest fre ...

Lake Malombe Lake Malombe is a lake in southern part of Malawi, on the Shire River, in the Southern Region, Malawi, Southern Region. It is located at around , about south of much larger Lake Malawi. It has an area of about . In recent years the number of fishe ...

and the upper reaches of the

Shire River The Shire is the largest river in Malawi. It is the only outlet of Lake Malawi and flows into the Zambezi River in Mozambique. Its length is . The upper Shire River issues from Lake Malawi and runs approximately before it enters shallow Lake Malo ...

in East Africa. It is an

aggressive mimic Aggressive mimicry is a form of mimicry in which predators, parasites, or parasitoids share similar signals, using a harmless model, allowing them to avoid being correctly identified by their prey or host. Zoologists have repeatedly compared t ...

of the chambo cichlids (''Nyasalapia'', a subgenus of ''

Oreochromis ''Oreochromis'' is a large genus of Oreochromini, oreochromine cichlids, fishes Endemism, endemic to Africa and the Middle East. A few species from this genus have been Introduced species, introduced far outside their native range and are import ...

'') in both color pattern and swimming mode. It is therefore able to approach unsuspecting

schools A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compulsor ...

of these species and rapidly take a mouthful of scales or fin. Konings, Ad (1990). Ad Konings' Book of Cichlids and all the other Fishes of Lake Malawi, pp. 90. .Oliver, M.K. (16 November 2000)
Corematodus shiranus.
MalawiCichlids. Retrieved 13 April 2017. Due to

overfishing Overfishing is the removal of a species of fish (i.e. fishing) from a body of water at a rate greater than that the species can replenish its population naturally (i.e. the overexploitation of the fishery's existing fish stock), resulting in th ...

, the chambo cichlid populations have drastically declined, adversely affecting ''C. shiranus'', which was last reported in 1997 and might now be

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

References

shiranus Fish described in 1897 Taxa named by George Albert Boulenger Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Cichlidae-stub