Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Alticorpus sp. "Bicuspid Small-scale"

Alticorpus sp. "Bicuspid Small-scale" "Senga Bay"

Senga Bay — SEHN-gah BAY (approx.)

The fish

How this cichlid is built, and everything about how it lives, eats and breeds, is shared with the species — this page doesn't repeat it.

Read the full Alticorpus sp. "Bicuspid Small-scale" account →

Specific to Senga Bay

  • Collection locality & coordinates
  • Local coloration — best judged from the living-fish photo
  • Kept as a single-provenance line, never crossed with other collection points

Care facts below are the species' — shared with Alticorpus sp. "Bicuspid Small-scale".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size6 in15 cm total length
Temperature72–79 °F22–26 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth66–328 ft20–100 m
DietBenthic micro-invertivore of soft sand/mud bottoms, located via enlarged cranial sensory pores (genus-typical Alticorpus)
Breedingmaternal mouthbrooder (inferred from genus/flock)not documented for this form; deep-water congeners (e.g. Alticorpus macrocleithrum) carry moderate clutches, roughly a hundred to a few hundred eggs
Sexual dimorphismMinimalNo sexual dimorphism documented - consistent with a fish presumed to breed in dark, deep water, as in other Alticorpus.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Senga Bay population

Alticorpus sp. "Bicuspid Small-scale" "Senga Bay" is the Senga Bay population of Alticorpus sp. "Bicuspid Small-scale", a geographic colour form from the Malawi coast of Lake Malawi in the southern part of the lake. It is the same species as Alticorpus sp. "Bicuspid Small-scale", distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Senga Bay fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Alticorpus sp. "Bicuspid Small-scale" is an undescribed deep-water cichlid from Lake Malawi, recorded from the Senga Bay area and distinguished in trawl-survey and hobby references from other unassigned Alticorpus material by two working characters - bicuspid outer-jaw teeth and a smaller, more numerous scale count than related forms from the same site. It carries the genus's diagnostic enlarged cranial sensory pores and lives well below the sunlit reefs most aquarists ever see. It is known from the trawl net and the field database rather than the aquarium trade, and no authority, year, or conservation status should be attached to it.

Full Alticorpus sp. "Bicuspid Small-scale" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Alticorpus sp. "Bicuspid Small-scale" "Senga Bay"
  2. malawi.si — Alticorpus species and locality-form database (Konings-based; distribution, biotope)
  3. Cichlid Room Companion — Alticorpus genus overview (deep-water sand/mud/intermediate cichlids of Lake Malawi)
  4. Stauffer, J.R. & McKaye, K.R. 1988 — Description of a genus and three deep water species of fishes (Teleostei: Cichlidae) from Lake Malawi, Africa (Copeia 1988(2):441-449; original description of genus Alticorpus)
  5. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press; foremost Malawi field authority, incl. deep-water Alticorpus forms)