Docimodus johnstoni "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 Docimodus johnstoni 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 Docimodus johnstoni.
The Senga Bay population
Docimodus johnstoni "Senga Bay" is the Senga Bay population of Docimodus johnstoni, a geographic colour form from the Malawi coast of Lake Malawi in the southern part of the lake. It is the same species as Docimodus johnstoni, 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
Docimodus johnstoni is one of Lake Malawi's strangest predators: a heavy-jawed haplochromine that makes a living biting the fins off catfish. Boulenger named it in 1897 from fish Sir Harry Johnston shipped out of the Upper Shiré River, and it has stayed both rare and barely-kept ever since. Most aquarists never see one — it is the parasitic side of the Malawi flock, a fish whose anatomy was built around a single peculiar meal.
Full Docimodus johnstoni account →Sources
- malawi.si — Docimodus johnstoni "Senga Bay"
- FishBase — Docimodus johnstoni (species summary, ID 2266)
- Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Docimodus johnstoni (species record; type locality Upper Shiré River; syntypes BMNH 1896.10.25.29-30)
- Cichlid Room Companion — Docimodus (genus profile; type species, valid species, ecology)
- Cichlid Room Companion — Docimodus johnstoni (species profile)
- GBIF — Docimodus johnstoni (occurrence records, Lake Malawi)