Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Alticorpus sp. "Deep Bicuspid"

Alticorpus sp. "Deep Bicuspid" "Nkhotakota"

Nkhotakota — n-koh-tah-KOH-tah (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. "Deep Bicuspid" account →

Specific to Nkhotakota

  • 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. "Deep Bicuspid".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size6 in15 cm total length
Temperature70–77 °F21–25 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth131–426 ft40–130 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 Nkhotakota population

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

Colour reference: living Nkhotakota fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Alticorpus sp. "Deep Bicuspid" is an undescribed deep-water cichlid from Lake Malawi, recorded from notably deep water off Nkhotakota on the central-western shore. Its trade name marks two working characters used in trawl-survey and hobby references to sort unassigned Alticorpus material: bicuspid outer-jaw teeth and an unusually deep recorded depth even for a genus that is already the lake's deep-water specialist. It carries the enlarged cranial sensory pores that let deep Malawi cichlids hunt by feel in water far below any diver's reach, and it is known from the trawl net rather than the aquarium trade. No authority, year, or conservation status should be attached to it.

Full Alticorpus sp. "Deep Bicuspid" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Alticorpus sp. "Deep Bicuspid" "Nkhotakota"
  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)