Cheilochromis euchilus "Mbenji Island"
Mbenji Island — m-BEHN-jee EYE-land (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 Cheilochromis euchilus account →Specific to Mbenji Island
- 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 Cheilochromis euchilus.
The Mbenji Island population
Cheilochromis euchilus "Mbenji Island" is the Mbenji Island population of Cheilochromis euchilus, 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 Cheilochromis euchilus, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.
Colour reference: living Mbenji Island fish at malawi.si →
About the species
Cheilochromis euchilus, the Malawi thicklip, is a large haplochromine cichlid endemic to Lake Malawi and instantly recognizable by the swollen, fleshy lips that fan out into finger-like lobes on both jaws. Those lips are a feeding tool: the fish presses them against rock crevices to form a seal and sucks out the small invertebrates sheltering inside. It is the only species in its genus, a quietly built predator that most of the time wears plain silver and only rarely shows the electric blue of a breeding male.
Full Cheilochromis euchilus account →Sources
- malawi.si — Cheilochromis euchilus "Mbenji Island"
- Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Cheilochromis euchilus (species record)
- FishBase — Cheilochromis euchilus (Malawi thick lip)
- GBIF — Cheilochromis euchilus occurrence and taxonomy
- iNaturalist — Malawi Thicklip (Cheilochromis euchilus)
- IRMNG — Cheilochromis Eccles & Trewavas, 1989