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

Alticorpus sp. "Mentale Bicuspid" "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. "Mentale Bicuspid" 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. "Mentale Bicuspid".

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, including the closely comparable Alticorpus mentale.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Senga Bay population

Alticorpus sp. "Mentale Bicuspid" "Senga Bay" is the Senga Bay population of Alticorpus sp. "Mentale Bicuspid", 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. "Mentale Bicuspid", 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. "Mentale Bicuspid" is an undescribed deep-water cichlid from Lake Malawi, recorded from the Senga Bay area and named for its resemblance to the genus's type species, Alticorpus mentale, whose projecting bony chin it is reported to share. The "Bicuspid" half of the name marks the dental character - two-pointed outer-jaw teeth - that field workers use to keep this population separate from confirmed mentale material rather than treating it as the same fish. It carries the genus's diagnostic enlarged cranial sensory pores and, like its better-known relative, is a creature of the trawl net rather than the aquarium trade. No authority, year, or conservation status should be attached to it, and no formal comparison to Alticorpus mentale has been published.

Full Alticorpus sp. "Mentale Bicuspid" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Alticorpus sp. "Mentale Bicuspid" "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)