Giant cichlid
| Giant cichlid | |
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| Tribe: | Boulengerochromini
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| Genus: | Boulengerochromis Pellegrin, 1904
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| Species: | B. microlepis
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| Binomial name | |
| Boulengerochromis microlepis (Boulenger, 1899)
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The giant cichlid (Boulengerochromis microlepis), also known as the emperor cichlid, is a species of fish in the Cichlidae family, endemic to Lake Tanganyika in Africa.[2][3] It is the only member of its genus Boulengerochromis and tribe Boulengerochromini.[4]
The species was originally described as Tilapia microlepis by George Albert Boulenger in 1899. Realizing that it was not a tilapia, the genus Boulengerochromis was coined in 1904 by Jacques Pellegrin, honouring G.A. Boulenger.
Males reach a length up to 90 cm (3.0 ft) and females up to 75 cm (2.5 ft), possibly making it the largest species of cichlid,[5] although other suggest that prize goes to the speckled peacock bass (Cichla temensis) of South America.[6]
The giant cichlid is endemic to Lake Tanganyika where it occurs in the countries of Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, and Zambia.[1] It is common and found in coastal areas to depths of 100 m (330 ft).[1] Adults are mainly piscivorous and juveniles are omnivores.[3]
References
- ^ a b c Bigirimana, C. 2005. Boulengerochromis microlepis. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 4 August 2007.
- ^ Boulengerochromis microlepis FishBase (2006) Eds. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. fishbase.org version (07/2014).
- ^ a b SeriouslyFish: Boulengerochromis microlepis. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
- ^ Meyer, Matchiner, Salburger, Britta, Michael, Walter (2015). "A tribal level phylogeny of Lake Tanganyika cichlid fishes based on a genomic multi-marker approach". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 83: 56–71. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2014.10.009.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Bailey, M. (13 June 2016). The 10 biggest cichlids. Practical Fishkeeping. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
- ^ Reis, P. (2015), Aspects of life history of Cichla temensis (Perciformes: Cichlidae) and its relationship to the Amazon basin's flood pulse, Rutgers University
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