Haplochromis arcanus

Haplochromis arcanus is a fish of the genus Haplochromis within the family of cichlids. The species is performed on the Red List of Threatened Species IUCN status with the DD (Data Deficient / insufficient data ). She is / was endemic in Victoria and lived on muddy bottoms at depths of up to 50 meters.

Description

Haplochromis arcanus was described in 1969 by Greenwood & Gee and is 14 inches long (not including tail ). His Artepitel arcanus comes from the Latin word for secret or mysterious. This refers to the fact that the describer the fish could not be clearly assigned kinship within the species flock of Victoriaseecichliden. There were them only nine specimens of two close localities available. The animals were partly already gutted or had empty guts, which is why it is not known what they feed on. Because of its narrow -pointed, outer teeth and head profile but it may be assumed that they are fish eaters. They were therefore already been assigned to the genus Prognathochromis, but which is not well defined and is therefore not generally accepted at the time. The live coloration of the fish is unknown. Striking is a single, relatively large Eifleck in the anal fin of the males. The muzzle has a slightly beaked by a small nub on the front of the underside of the lower jaw, and a clearly discernable maxillary process. H. arcanus resembles other species of the Haplochromis tridens group, particularly H. dolichorhynchus and H. tyrianthinus.

Occurrence

So far the species is known only from the Ugandan part of Lake Victoria and indeed the south and north of Iceland Nsadzi. The captive animals lived relatively low between 20 and 50 meters above the mud floors.

Reproduction

As with all Haplochromis -like it should be also in this type a maternal mouth brooders.

Extinction

Again and again, it is claimed that many of the cichlids of Lake Victoria are extinct. It is also variously claimed by this type Haplochromis arcanus. The disappearance of all these species is mainly determined on the beginning of the 1980s, returned suddenly proliferation of already late 1950s exposed the Nile perch in the lake. Since then, this big fish is, however, fished intensively with industrial products and its inventory in Lake Victoria has been considerably depleted, have some of the smaller species can recover, one of which was previously told that they were extinct. What types are ultimately actually extinct in Lake Victoria by the Nile perch, can be due to poor data situation in a body of water the size of this lake not determine. It is therefore unknown whether Haplochromis arcanus today is still found in Lake Victoria.