Maylandia callainos

Maylandia callainos

Maylandia callainos ( gr = " aqua "; (syn. callainos Pseudotropheus, Metriaclima callainos ) ) is an African cichlid, which is endemic to the Nkhata Bay on the west coast of Lake Malawi. He was exposed to in the Likomainseln in Namalenje and Thumbi Western Islands by humans.

Features

Maylandia callainos has the typical elongated, laterally flattened shape of a member of the complex to Maylandia zebra. He is eight inches long. The only mentioned in the first description feature that distinguishes the fish of other species of zebra Maylandia complex, is the coloring.

Maylandia callainos is a polymorphic type that occurs in three color morphs. When Normalmorphe males and females are solid light blue, the males with a radiant luminosity, also a white blue color is possible. The females are plain and have a maximum of two eggspots. In the white morph females are colored albino -like whitish, their fins. The males are bluish. The third morph is white and shows black spots. Again, superimposed with the males bluish tone, both the whitish ground color and the spots. In both of the variant forms Normalmorphe females occur much more frequently than males. Juveniles always show the bright blue color of the Normalmorphe. The juveniles of the two different morphs are colored only to a length of three to four centimeters. At the north-west and east coast of Nkhata Bay, there is a whitish population in which the juveniles are white and may represent a separate, previously undescribed species.

• Fins formula: Dorsal XVII-IIXX/8-9, Anal III/7-8.
• Gill rakers on the first Ceratobranchiale (lower pharyngeal jaw): 11-12; Gill rakers on the first Epibranchiale (bone support of the upper half of the gill arch ): 1-3.

Way of life

Maylandia callainos is a member of the Mbuna an inhabitant of the rocky coast and the Gerölllitorals of Lake Malawi and feeds mainly on algae, which it scrapes from the rocks. Like almost all cichlids of Lake Malawi, he is a mouth brooders.

System

The species was known as Pseudotropheus zebra "Bright Blue" or Pseudotropheus zebra " cobalt " in the hobby since the late 1960s and was first described in 1992 as an independent species. It belongs to the family of the time comprehensive 24 species complex to Maylandia zebra.

Endangering

Because of its very limited distribution area is classified Maylandia callainos by the IUCN as endangered ( " Vulnerable ").