Taxonomy & naming
Aulonocara sp. "Deep Lutheri" is not a formally described species. It has no scientific name of its own, no describing author, no year of publication, and no entry in Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes, because no taxonomist has published a description establishing it. It is an informal taxon recognised in the field and hobby literature, principally through malawi.si and the work of Ad Konings, as a population of Aulonocara recorded at Gome, on the central-western shore of Lake Malawi. The placeholder name follows the standard convention for undescribed cichlids - the genus Aulonocara, the abbreviation "sp." flagging its undescribed status, and a trade name in quotation marks, here "Deep Lutheri." "Lutheri" itself functions as an established trade tag for a particular peacock form circulating in the hobby; this account does not have confident documentation of its precise origin - whether it honours a collector, a dealer, or marks some other reference point - and does not assert one rather than guess. "Deep" marks this Gome population as coming from notably deeper water than other fish carrying the same base trade name elsewhere in the lake. Konings places it within Aulonocara on anatomical grounds, since it carries the genus's diagnostic enlarged cephalic sensory pores. Until a formal revision is published, no authority or date should be attached to it.
Morphology
This is a peacock cichlid on the standard Aulonocara plan: a moderately deep, laterally compressed haplochromine body carrying the genus's characteristic head, in which the lateral-line canals of the face are widened into conspicuous sensory pits used to detect prey in and on the sand. Genus-typical adult size for a peacock of this kind runs roughly 4.5–5 in, males usually somewhat larger than females, the usual peacock arrangement. Hobby references describe "Lutheri"-type males in general terms consistent with many Aulonocara stuartgranti-complex forms - blue body tones with variable orange to red highlights in the dorsal and caudal fins - but firm, form-specific colour documentation for this deep-water Gome population is not available in the sources compiled here, and this account does not assert a precise pattern it cannot support. Females and subordinate males are expected to be plainer, silvery and cryptically marked, as in the rest of the genus.
Habitat
Aulonocara sp. "Deep Lutheri" is recorded from Gome, on the central-western shore of Lake Malawi. Its biotope is presumed to be the classic Aulonocara intermediate habitat - scattered rocks over an open sandy floor - but at a depth notably greater than other populations carrying the base "Lutheri" trade name elsewhere in the lake, which the "Deep" qualifier is there to flag. The water is the warm, hard, strongly alkaline medium typical of Lake Malawi's water column, though temperature and light both fall somewhat with the added depth relative to the shallower intermediate zone most peacocks are collected from. As an undescribed, locality-based and depth-based form, its full distribution and precise depth range beyond the Gome record have not been documented.
Feeding
Aulonocara sp. "Deep Lutheri" is presumed to be a sand-sifting micro-invertivore, feeding in the manner that defines the peacock radiation: hovering just above open sand, using the enlarged sensory pores on its head to register the faint vibrations of small invertebrates buried in the substrate, then darting down to take a mouthful of sand, sift out the edible items, and expel the spent grains. The genus-typical diet is small benthic invertebrates - insect larvae, micro-crustaceans and other soft-bodied animals living in the sediment. No feeding study specific to this deep-water Gome population has been published; this account follows the well-documented genus pattern.
Mating
Like all Lake Malawi peacocks, Aulonocara sp. "Deep Lutheri" is presumed polygynous and lek-like in its social organisation, with no pair bond. Males in nuptial colour are expected to establish and defend small territories on or near the sandy floor, displaying from these sites to passing females, who move across the substrate singly or in loose groups and visit displaying males rather than forming any lasting association. The specific details of this population's wild courtship have not been separately documented, since it is understood chiefly by analogy with related sand-dwelling peacocks.
Breeding
Aulonocara sp. "Deep Lutheri" is presumed to be a maternal mouthbrooder, as are all Lake Malawi peacocks. Following the genus-typical pattern, a ripe female is drawn to a displaying male's site, deposits a small batch of eggs and takes them into her mouth, then gathers milt from the male's anal-fin egg-spots to fertilise the clutch already held in her buccal cavity. She is expected to brood the eggs and larvae for roughly three to four weeks before releasing free-swimming fry, with no further parental investment afterward. Clutch size has not been documented specifically for this form; by analogy with similarly sized peacocks it is expected to be modest, on the order of a few dozen eggs.
In the aquarium
Aulonocara sp. "Deep Lutheri" is an uncommon locality and depth variant rather than one of the widely available line-bred peacocks, and it appears in the trade only sporadically, sought mainly by keepers with an interest in wild-type diversity. Where it is kept, its requirements follow the general template for an open-sand Lake Malawi peacock: a fine sand substrate at least 2 in deep over a generous open footprint, since this is a sand-sifting fish that needs room to hover and forage, with a background of stacked rock providing broken sightlines and bolt-holes while leaving most of the floor open. A footprint of at least 47 in is a sensible minimum. Water chemistry should mirror Lake Malawi's water column - temperature in the mid-20s Celsius, pH on the alkaline side of neutral (roughly 7.7 to 8.6), and moderately hard to hard water - since prolonged exposure to soft or acidic conditions causes chronic problems in Malawi cichlids.
Because males are in nuptial colour and willing to spawn, a single male with several females is the standard, lowest-stress arrangement. Diet should be the usual varied peacock menu - a quality cichlid pellet or flake as a staple, supplemented with small frozen or live invertebrates such as chironomid larvae, brine shrimp, and daphnia - with fatty foods avoided, since they predispose Malawi cichlids to bloat. Regular partial water changes keep nitrate low. Because the form is distinguished chiefly by locality and depth rather than by a formally published character, keepers who value provenance should keep it apart from other "Lutheri"-type peacocks when breeding, to preserve its documented identity.
Conservation
Aulonocara sp. "Deep Lutheri" has not been evaluated by the IUCN, and because it is an undescribed form without a formal scientific name it has no Red List assessment of any kind - no status, no category, no published criteria. That absence is a statement about taxonomy, not about safety. As a locality-based central-western-shore form it is exposed to the same general pressures as other Lake Malawi cichlids: ornamental collection, inshore habitat disturbance, and the broader basin-wide stresses of sedimentation and fishing pressure. No fabricated conservation status should ever be attached to it; the honest statement is that it is unassessed, with its true range, depth limits and status still to be established by formal study.