''Nanochromis transvestitus'' is a

sexually dimorphic Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...

cichlid

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 Mai-Ndombe Lake Mai-Ndombe (french: Lac Mai-Ndombe) is a large freshwater lake in Mai-Ndombe province in western Democratic Republic of the Congo. The lake is within the Tumba-Ngiri-Maindombe area, the largest Wetland of International Importance recognize ...

in 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 ...

where they live at a depth of around . It feeds on small benthic

invertebrates Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordat ...

. This species reaches a length of SL. Unusually for cichlids, it is the female, not the male, that is the most colourful. The female has a vertical black and white banding on her

anal Anal may refer to: Related to the anus *Related to the anus of animals: ** Anal fin, in fish anatomy ** Anal vein, in insect anatomy ** Anal scale, in reptile anatomy *Related to the human anus: ** Anal sex, a type of sexual activity involving s ...

and caudual fins, with a bright red abdomen. The male, by contrast, is grayish in colour. Like many cichlids, the male does, however, have longer anal and caudal fins. The fish are egg layers and make a nest in the substrate in which to lay their eggs. This species is particularly threatened by the practice of using

mosquito netting Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning " gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "lit ...

to catch fish out of the lake as material with holes that small catches every species of fish in the lake regardless of size. The specific name is a derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''trans'' meaning "cross" or "over" and ''vestitus'' meaning "clothed", a reference to the reversal of the normal

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most an ...

in that this species has drabber males and more colourful females.

References

Chromidotilapiini Lake fish of Africa Taxa named by Tyson R. Roberts Fish described in 1984 Endemic fauna of the Democratic Republic of the Congo {{Cichlidae-stub