The kampango or kampoyo (''Bagrus meridionalis'') is a critically endangered species of large and predatory

bagrid catfish The Bagridae are a family of catfish that are native to Africa ('' Bagrus'') and Asia (all other genera) from Japan to Borneo. It includes about 245 species. These fish are commonly known as naked catfishes or bagrid catfishes. Many large bagri ...

that 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 ...

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 fr ...

Lake Malombe Lake Malombe is a lake in southern part of Malawi, on the Shire River, in the 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 fishermen on the lake rose s ...

and the upper

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 Africa. It prefers areas near rocks in water shallower than , but it also occurs deeper (not beyond the

oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as ...

limit) and over a sandy or muddy bottom.

Appearance and behavior

The kampango is among the largest fish in the Lake Malawi basin, reaching up to about long, Konings, Ad (1990). ''Ad Konings' Book of Cichlids and all the other Fishes of Lake Malawi,'' p. 487. or possibly even . A common length is around and females are typically larger than males. Adults are overall blackish, while young are grey with dark spots. During the day kampangos hide in caves, but around dusk or dawn they hunt and eat their prey, primarily cichlids.

Breeding

The male digs a shallow nest in the sandy bottom, often near rocks, where the female lays several thousand eggs. After hatching, the young mostly eat trophic (unfertilized) egg that their mother lays, but they also take invertebrates that the father brings to them in his mouth.Stauffer, J.R., and Loftus, W.F. (2010). Brood Parasitism of a Bagrid Catfish (Bagrus meridionalis) by a Clariid Catfish (Bathyclarias nyasensis) in Lake Malaŵi, Africa. Copeia 2010(1): 71-75. The eggs and young are fiercely guarded by the parents. The young kampango only leave the protection of their parents when around long, but before that most have typically already been eaten by egg- and fry-stealing cichlids like ''

Mylochromis melanonotus The haplochromis yellow black line (''Mylochromis melanonotus'') is a species of cichlid fish endemic to Lake Malawi Lake Malawi, also known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Lago Niassa in Mozambique, is an African Great Lake and the southern ...

'' and ''

Pseudotropheus crabro ''Pseudotropheus crabro'', the Bumblebee Cichlid or Hornet Cichlid, is a species of cichlid endemic to Lake Malawi where it is found in different habitats but most frequently in large caves or in the vicinity of large boulders. This species can ...

''. At other times ''Pseudotropheus crabro'' has a mutualistic relationship with the kampango, as it will clean it by feeding on

parasite Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...

s and dead tissue.ScotCat
Bagrus meridionalis Günther, 1894.
Retrieved 2 January 2019. Another catfish, '' Bathyclarias nyasensis'', is a brood parasite of the kampango. Kampango parents have been observed taking care of entire broods of ''B. nyasensis'' young as if they were their own. As these broods almost exclusively contain ''B. nyasensis'' young, it is suspected that they hatch earlier than the kampango's own eggs and eat them. In contrast to the nest predators and parasites, certain cichlids, especially '' Copadichromis pleurostigmoides'', '' Ctenopharynx pictus'' and ''

Rhamphochromis ''Rhamphochromis'' is a genus of East African haplochromine cichlids endemic to the Lake Malawi basin, also including Lake Malombe, Lake Chilingali, Chia Lagoon and upper Shire River.Genner; Nichols; Carvalho; Robinson; Shaw; Smith; and Turner ...

'', will release their young near nesting kampango. The kampango and cichlid parents both protect the mixed group, resulting in a significantly higher survival rate of the kampango young.McKaye, K.R. (1985). Cichlid–catfish mutualistic defence of young in Lake Malawi, Africa. Oceologia 66: 358–363.

Relationship with humans

Kampango are highly prized as an eating fish, and are caught using nets and more commonly line caught, mainly in deep water around Cape Maclear, Salima, Mbenje Island, and

Nkhata Bay Nkhata Bay or just Nkhata is the capital of the Nkhata Bay District in Malawi. It is on the shore of Lake Malawi (formerly Lake Nyasa), east of Mzuzu, and is one of the main ports on Lake Malawi. The population of Nkhata Bay was 14,274 accord ...

. Fresh kampango are usually filleted and deep fried, barbecued, or cooked with tomato and onion as traditional Malawian dish, served with

nsima Ugali or Posho or sima (for others, see ) is a type of maize meal made from maize or corn flour in several countries in Africa. Sima is sometimes made from other flours, such as millet or sorghum flour, and is sometimes mixed with cassava flour. ...

. Traditionally regarded as one of the most widespread and common fish in its range, the kampango has declined drastically because of overfishing and is now considered critically endangered by the IUCN. From 2006 to 2016, its population declined by more than 90% based on the fall observed in catch rates in fisheries in southern Lake Malawi.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3757658 Bagridae Fish of Africa Fish described in 1894 Taxa named by Albert Günther