Genyochromis mento "Likoma Island"
Genyochromis mento (Chitimba Bay, Likoma Island, Lundo Island, Lutara Reef, Makokola Reef, Nakantenga Island, Ndumbi Point, Thumbi West Island, Undu Reef, Zimbawe Rock)
Likoma Island — lee-KOH-mah 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 Genyochromis mento account →Specific to Likoma 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 Genyochromis mento.
The Likoma Island population
Genyochromis mento "Likoma Island" is the Likoma Island population of Genyochromis mento, a geographic colour form from the Malawi coast of Lake Malawi in the central part of the lake. It is the same species as Genyochromis mento, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.
Colour reference: living Likoma Island fish at malawi.si →
About the species
Genyochromis mento is a small, slate-grey mbuna endemic to Lake Malawi and one of the lake's strangest predators: it makes its living by ambushing other cichlids and biting chunks out of their fins, occasionally rasping off scales as well. It is the only member of its genus, ranges across nearly every habitat in the lake, and is famous among biologists for evolving its fin-eating habit entirely independently of the better-known scale-eaters of Lake Tanganyika. Common in the wild but almost absent from aquariums, it is one of the few Malawi cichlids that genuinely cannot be kept with anything else.
Full Genyochromis mento account →Sources
- malawi.si — Genyochromis mento "Likoma Island"
- Genyochromis mento — FishBase summary
- Catalog of Fishes (Eschmeyer) — Genyochromis mento (species record)
- ITIS Report: Genyochromis mento (TSN 649117)
- Takeuchi et al. 2019 — Specialized movement and laterality of fin-biting behaviour in Genyochromis mento (J. Exp. Biol.)
- Takeuchi et al. 2019 — PubMed record (PMID 30510116)
- IUCN Red List — Genyochromis mento "Likoma Island"