''Lamprologus callipterus'' is a species of 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 ...

to Lake Tanganyika where it very actively moves about in search of

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group can ...

s and other invertebrates. Males of this species can reach a length of TL while the females only grow to TL (see below). This fish can also be found in the aquarium trade, though it is considered to be poorly suited for captivity.

Physiology

These fish exhibit strong

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 ...

. Its males are significantly larger than females, the reason being that males of the species collect empty snail shells for the females to breed in. Therefore, males have to be large and strong enough to transport shells, while females have to be small enough to fit in the shells. Immature males will form schools that may exceed 100 individuals. These schools roam around, leaving a trail of destruction as they feed on insect larvae, crustaceans, and juvenile cichlids.

References

callipterus ''Callipterus'' is a genus of aphids in the family Aphididae. ; Names brought to synonymy: ''Callipterus elegans'' Koch, C.l., 1855 and ''Callipterus platani'' Kaltenbach, 1843 are synonyms for ''Tinocallis platani ''Tinocallis platani'' is ...

Fish of Lake Tanganyika Articles containing video clips Taxa named by George Albert Boulenger Fish described in 1906 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Lamprologini-stub