''Pseudotropheus saulosi'' 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 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 ...

in East Africa where it lives in areas with rocky substrates. It is classified as a dwarf-

mbuna Mbuna (pronounced Mmm-boo - nah ) is the common name for a large group of African cichlids from Lake Malawi, and are members of the haplochromine family. The name ''mbuna'' means "rockfish" in the language of the Tonga people of Malawi.Loiselle ...

and was first described by

Ad Konings Adrianus Franciscus Johannes Marinus Maria "Ad" Konings (born 11 January 1956 in Roosendaal, Netherlands) is an ichthyologist originally trained in medicine and biology. Konings is best known for his research on African rift lake cichlids. After ...

in 1990 who gave it 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 ...

''saulosi'' in honour of Saulos Mwale who caught over 3,000 specimens in a single day on the expedition which collected the type. It comes from an area of the lake called Taiwan Reef, and from nowhere else. This fish can 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.Barber, P
Pseudotropheus saulosi.
CichlidForum. Retrieved 16 April 2017. This species can reach a length of TL. The fish are born yellow but as they reach maturity males turn blue with several vertical black bars. Less dominant males are paler blue and it is possible for some younger males to remain mixed in with the females, in typical yellow female dress. When the dominant male leaves a certain group, one of these incognito males may color up and become dominant. ''Pseudotropheus saulosi'' is a maternal mouthbrooder. The female holds the eggs in her mouth until the fry are able to swim. This normally takes 13–18 days. The fish is Critically Endangered in the wild, and efforts are currently under way to re-stock Taiwan Reef with captive bred individuals.

References

Endemic fauna of Mozambique saulosi Taxa named by Ad Konings Fish described in 1990 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN {{Cichlidae-stub

See also

References