''Oreochromis saka'' 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 ...

fish 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 elsew ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

in East Africa where it inhabits relatively shallow coastal areas. Konings, Ad (1990). Ad Konings' Book of Cichlids and all the other Fishes of Lake Malawi, p. 344. . It can reach a

standard length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology. Overall length * Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish m ...

of . It is part of the subgenus ''Nyasalapia'', which are known as chambo. The validity of this species is questionable and a

taxonomic Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

review recommended that it should be considered a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

of '' O. karongae'' (the two only differ by pharyngeal bones and teeth).Turner, G.F.; and R.L. Robinson (1991). Ecology, morphology and taxonomy of the Lake Malawi Oreochromis (Nyasalapia) species flock. Annales de la Musée royal de l'Afrique Centrale (Tervuren) 262: 23-28.

References

saka The Saka ( Old Persian: ; Kharoṣṭhī: ; Ancient Egyptian: , ; , old , mod. , ), Shaka (Sanskrit ( Brāhmī): , , ; Sanskrit (Devanāgarī): , ), or Sacae (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples who hist ...

Fish of Lake Malawi Fish described in 1953 {{Tilapiini-stub