Lamprologus callipterus "Ulwile Island"
Ulwile Island — oo-LWEE-leh 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 the base species account →Specific to Ulwile 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 the base species.
IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2025
EXEWCRENVUNTLC
CARESNOT LISTED
EWCRENVUNTnot on the priority list
Scientific size5.9 in15 cm total length
Temperature73–82 °F23–28 °C
pH7–8.5alkaline
Depth15–39 ft4.5–12 m
DietOpportunistic carnivore; feeds on small invertebrates, crustaceans, and prey sifted from the substrate; non-territorial schools are known to raid other fish territories in a swarm ('the mob'), consuming whatever invertebrates are exposed.
BreedingSubstrate spawner — female spawns inside an empty Neothauma snail shell; male fertilizes from outside by pressing his vent to the shell mouthClutch laid egg by egg over approximately 6–12 hours; female broods inside the shell for ~10–14 days
Sexual dimorphismYesExtreme sexual size dimorphism: males reach 13–15 cm TL, females only ~4–4.5 cm TL. Body-mass ratios of 12:1 (Wonzye Point, Zambia) to ~60:1 (Muzimo, northern DRC) have been recorded — the most extreme male-larger dimorphism documented in any animal. A third 'dwarf' male morph, genetically fixed via Y-linked inheritance, is smaller even than females.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →The Ulwile Island population
Lamprologus callipterus "Ulwile Island" is the Ulwile Island population of Lamprologus callipterus, a geographic colour form from the Tanzania coast of Lake Tanganyika in the north-central part of the lake. It is the same species as Lamprologus callipterus, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.
Colour reference: living Ulwile Island fish at tanganyika.si →
Sources
- tanganyika.si — Lamprologus callipterus "Ulwile Island"
- Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Lamprologus callipterus (Boulenger, 1906)
- FishBase — Lamprologus callipterus (Boulenger, 1906)
- Schütz & Taborsky (2000), J. Fish Biology — Giant males or dwarf females: what determines the extreme sexual size dimorphism in Lamprologus callipterus?
- Schütz et al. (2012), Int. J. Evol. Biol. — Spawning Coordination of Mates in a Shell Brooding Cichlid
- Singh et al. (2023), Molecular Ecology — Genomic basis of Y-linked dwarfism in cichlids pursuing alternative reproductive tactics