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↑ Collection form of Lepidiolamprologus kamambae

Lepidiolamprologus kamambae "Kamamba Island"

Lepidiolamprologus kamambae (Kamamba Island, Kerenge Island)

Kamamba Island — kah-MAHM-bah 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 Lepidiolamprologus kamambae account →

Specific to Kamamba 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 Lepidiolamprologus kamambae.

IUCNENDANGERED · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Genus type speciesLepidiolamprologus elongatusdescribed as Lamprologus elongatus Boulenger 1898
Scientific size8 in20 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH8.5–9alkaline
Habitat waterhard · 600–690 µS/cmLake Tanganyika
Depth16–131 ft5–40 m
DietPiscivore; hunts juvenile cichlids and small fish over open sand, cruising approximately 0.5 m above the substrate
Breedingsubstrate spawnerundocumented in the wild; adhesive eggs deposited on hard surface in cave or crevice (inferred from congeners)
Sexual dimorphismYesMales expected to grow larger; no reliable external sex differences described — all type-series specimens were male
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Kamamba Island population

Lepidiolamprologus kamambae "Kamamba Island" is the Kamamba Island population of Lepidiolamprologus kamambae, 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 Lepidiolamprologus kamambae, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Kamamba Island fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Lepidiolamprologus kamambae is a slender, sand-dwelling predatory cichlid endemic to a tiny patch of Lake Tanganyika's southeastern Tanzanian shore. Described only in 2012, it is the pale, open-water twin of the better-known Lepidiolamprologus kendalli: where that fish ambushes prey among dark rocks, kamambae cruises a half-meter above white sand, its ghostly markings matched to the substrate it hunts over. Known from no more than a handful of small islands, it is one of the more range-restricted lamprologines in the lake and was assessed as Endangered in 2025.

Full Lepidiolamprologus kamambae account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Lepidiolamprologus kamambae "Kamamba Island"
  2. Kullander, Karlsson & Karlsson (2012). Lepidiolamprologus kamambae, a new species of cichlid fish from Lake Tanganyika. Zootaxa 3492:30–48 (open-access PDF)
  3. FishBase — Lepidiolamprologus kamambae summary
  4. Catalog of Fishes (Eschmeyer) — Lepidiolamprologus kamambae (species record)
  5. GBIF — Lepidiolamprologus kamambae (accepted taxon, usageKey 7908506)
  6. O'Reilly et al. (2003), Nature — climate change decreases aquatic ecosystem productivity of Lake Tanganyika
  7. IUCN Red List — Lepidiolamprologus kamambae "Kamamba Island"
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