''Rhamphochromis'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of East African haplochromine cichlids

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 the

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 fr ...

basin, also including

Lake Malombe Lake Malombe is a lake in southern part of Malawi, on the Shire River, in the 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 fishermen on the lake rose s ...

, Lake Chilingali, Chia Lagoon and upper

Shire River The Shire is the largest river in Malawi. It is the only outlet of Lake Malawi and flows into the Zambezi River in Mozambique. Its length is . The upper Shire River issues from Lake Malawi and runs approximately before it enters shallow Lake Malo ...

.Genner; Nichols; Carvalho; Robinson; Shaw; Smith; and Turner (2007). Evolution of a cichlid fish in a Lake Malawi satellite lake. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 274(1623). doi: 10.1098/rspb.2007.0619. They mainly occur in offshore open waters (down to depths of Lowe-McConnell, R.H. (2003). Recent research in the African Great Lakes: Fisheries, biodiversity and cichlid evolution. Freshwater Forum 20(1): 4—64.), but a few species also near the coast. Konings, Ad (1990). ''Ad Konings' Book of Cichlids and all the other Fishes of Lake Malawi.'' Pp. 458—464. . They are

piscivore A piscivore () is a carnivorous animal that eats primarily fish. The name ''piscivore'' is derived . Piscivore is equivalent to the Greek-derived word ichthyophage, both of which mean "fish eater". Fish were the diet of early tetrapod evoluti ...

s that typically feed on lake sardines and small utaka cichlids. They are elongated in shape and mainly silver or golden-silver in color, sometimes with yellow fins (especially

pelvic The pelvis (plural pelves or pelvises) is the lower part of the trunk, between the abdomen and the thighs (sometimes also called pelvic region), together with its embedded skeleton (sometimes also called bony pelvis, or pelvic skeleton). The p ...

and anal fins) and dark horizontal lines along the body. Depending on the species involved, they reach lengths of up to . Although not closely related, they have sometimes been compared to piscivorous '' Bathybates'' cichlids of Lake Tanganyika.Lindqvist, O.V.; H. Mölsä; K. Solonen; J. Sarvala, editors (1999). From Limnology to Fisheries: Lake Tanganyika and Other Large Lakes. Pp. 213—214. Springer.

Species

There are currently six recognized species in this genus, although the naming of these cichlids has been complicated. For example, FishBase states that ''Rhamphochromis lucius'' is almost certainly a synonym of ''R. woodi'' whereas the

Catalog of Fishes Catalog of Fishes is a comprehensive on-line database and reference work on the scientific names of fish species and genera. It is global in its scope and is hosted by the California Academy of Sciences. It has been compiled and is continuously u ...

states that it is a synonym of ''R. esox''. * '' Rhamphochromis esox'' ( Boulenger, 1908) * '' Rhamphochromis ferox''

Regan The family name Regan, along with its cognates O'Regan, O Regan, Reagan, and O'Reagan, is an Anglicized form of the Irish surname Ó Riagáin or Ó Ríogáin, from Ua Riagáin. The meaning is likely to have originated in ancient Gaelic ''ri'' ...

, 1922 * '' Rhamphochromis longiceps'' ( Günther, 1864) (Tigerfish) * '' Rhamphochromis lucius'' C. G. E. Ahl, 1926 * '' Rhamphochromis macrophthalmus'' Regan, 1922 * '' Rhamphochromis woodi'' Regan, 1922 The IUCN and the Catalog of Fishes recognise the following five species as valid within this genus: * '' Rhamphochromis brevis'' Trewavas, 1935 * ''Rhamphochromis esox'' (Boulenger, 1908) * ''Rhamphochromis ferox'' Regan, 1922 * ''Rhamphochromis longiceps'' (Günther, 1864) * ''Rhamphochromis woodi'' Regan, 1922

References

Haplochromini Fishkeeping Cichlid genera Taxa named by Charles Tate Regan {{cichlidae-stub