''Alticorpus macrocleithrum'' is a species of

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% ...

in the family

Cichlidae 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 th ...

. It 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 els ...

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 fres ...

, where it can be found at depths between . This species differs from all other species of ''

Alticorpus ''Alticorpus'' is a small genus of cichlids endemic to the deep waters of 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 Rif ...

'' by the presence of a prominent ventral protuberance of the

cleithrum The cleithrum (plural cleithra) is a membrane bone which first appears as part of the skeleton in primitive bony fish, where it runs vertically along the scapula. Its name is derived from Greek κλειθρον = "key (lock)", by analogy with " cl ...

on the chest, hence the name ''macrocleithrum''. Like all members of ''Alticorpus'', ''A. macrocleithrum'' has enlarged lateral pores on the lower part of the head. The feeding technique of these species is to 'listen' for any movements within the sediment. Once they have located a prey buried in the sediment, they will dart at it, picking it out of the sediment. The enlarged

found throughout these species acts as a base for the enlarged musculature needed to pull themselves free of the sediment once buried into it from chasing prey. Their diet can consist of many small organisms including

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 gro ...

larvae A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. T ...

etc.

References

*Stauffer & McKaye, 1985. *Ad Konings, 2001. Malawi Cichlids in their natural habitat, 3rd Edition. Fish of Malawi macrocleithrum Taxa named by Jay Richard Stauffer Jr. Taxa named by Kenneth Robert McKaye Fish described in 1985 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Fish of Lake Malawi {{Cichlidae-stub