Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Cyrtocara moorii

Cyrtocara moorii "Nkhata Bay"

Nkhata Bay — n-KAH-tah 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 Cyrtocara moorii account →

Specific to Nkhata 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 Cyrtocara moorii.

IUCNVULNERABLE · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size9.1 in23 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.8alkaline
Depth10–49 ft3–15 m
DietFollows large sand-sifting cichlids (e.g. Taeniolethrinops, Lethrinops) to take benthic invertebrates disturbed from the sand
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder; eggs fertilized on the open sand, then collected and brooded by the femaleScales with female size — roughly a dozen to several dozen eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesWeak — both sexes are blue and both develop the nuchal hump; large dominant males tend to be larger with the most pronounced hump, so sexing usually relies on venting.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Nkhata Bay population

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

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

About the species

Cyrtocara moorii, the hump-head or Malawi blue dolphin, is a sky-blue, sand-dwelling cichlid endemic to Lake Malawi and the adjoining Lake Malombe. It is the sole species in its genus, instantly recognizable by the fatty forehead bump that gives mature fish a cetacean profile. Its most remarkable trick is ecological theft of a sort: in the wild it shadows larger sand-sifting cichlids, snatching invertebrates from the clouds of detritus they kick up, then defends that living food source as if it were territory.

Full Cyrtocara moorii account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Cyrtocara moorii "Nkhata Bay"
  2. FishBase: Cyrtocara moorii (Hump-head)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes (California Academy of Sciences)
  4. GBIF point/occurrence data for Cyrtocara moorii (via FishBase map)
  5. Konings, A. — Cichlids Yearbook vol. 1 (Cichlid Press): blue sand-dwellers of Lake Malawi (commensal feeding, open-sand spawning & mouthbrooding of Cyrtocara moorii)
  6. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press) / malawicichlids.com