Melanochromis

Melanochromis
Male Golden Mbuna (Melanochromis auratus)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Family: Cichlidae
Subfamily: Pseudocrenilabrinae
Tribe: Haplochromini
Genus: Melanochromis
Trewavas, 1935
Type species
Melanochromis melanopterus
Trewavas, 1935

Melanochromis is a genus of haplochromine cichlids endemic to Lake Malawi in Eastern Africa. Ecologically, they belong to the rock-dwelling mbuna cichlids of Lake Malawi.

Melanochromis are typically small, slim but muscular fishes with lengthwise stripes of black, yellow and blue. They usually display strong sexual dichromatism.

Species

There are currently 15 recognized species in this genus:[1][2] Previously several additional species were included, of which many have since been moved to Pseudotropheus (the removed species are shown indented in the list below).


References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Konings, Adrianus F.; Stauffer Jr., Jay R. (2012). "Review of the Lake Malaŵi genus Melanochromis (Teleostei: Cichlidae) with a description of a new species". Zootaxa 3258: 1–27.
  2. Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2013). Species of Melanochromis in FishBase. February 2013 version.
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