''Limnotilapia dardennii'', the latticed cichlid, is a species of

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 ...

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 elsew ...

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. ...

, where it prefers rocky areas near the coast. It may also be found in the

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 ...

trade. This species is currently the only known member of its genus.

Description

On colour these fish are yellowish olive on the upperparts and silvery on the ventral surfaces, it is marked with eleven dark vertical bars starting between the eyes, the fins are yellowish with the

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through conv ...

marbled with olive and the

pectoral fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as ...

and

anal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

have red bases. The males of this species can reach a total length of , and females can reach a length of .

Distribution

''Limnotilapia dardennii'' is widely distributed in Lake Tanganyika and it also occurs in the delta of the

Malagarasi River The Malagarasi River is a river in western Tanzania, flowing through Kigoma Region, although one of its tributaries comes from southeastern Burundi. The river also forms the western border of Tabora Region, the southern border of Kagera Region and ...

. It occurs in Zambia, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Habitat and biology

''Limnotilapia dardennii'' lives close to the shore, preferring sandy areas to rocky zones. Juvenile fish live in shallower waters over sand and mud substrates while the adults prefer deeper waters and rocky substrates. It is an omnivore with much of its diet consisting of plant material such as algae,

phytoplankton Phytoplankton () are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek words (), meaning 'plant', and (), meaning 'wanderer' or 'drifter'. Ph ...

and

vascular plants Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They al ...

. It is also known to feed on worms and the eggs of other fishes. It is regarded as closest to the ancestral form of species within its grouping which are browsers and grazers of algae as it shows the least specialisation of that group.

Human use and threats

This species is fished for human consumption, mostly using beach seines, it is also threatened by increased sedimentation of the inshore waters of Lake Tanganyika caused by erosion in the watersheds of the inflowing rivers. It is sometimes found in the aquarium trade.

Name

The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

hours the painter Léon Dardenne (1865-1912) who was an illustrator on the Congo Free State expedition to Lake Tanganyika on which the type of this species was collected. Boulenger said the native name for this fish was "sangani"

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2699789 Limnotilapia Monotypic fish genera Taxa named by George Albert Boulenger Fish described in 1899 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot