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↑ Collection form of Lethrinops albus

Lethrinops albus "Kande Island"

Lethrinops albus (Kande Island)

Kande Island — KAHN-deh 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 Lethrinops albus account →

Specific to Kande 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 Lethrinops albus.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Genus type speciesLethrinops lethrinusdescribed as Chromis lethrinus Günther 1894
Scientific size6.5 in16.5 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Habitat watermoderately soft, alkaline, well-buffered79 ppmLake Malawi
Depth23–49 ft7–15 m
DietSand-sifting benthic invertivore
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder (lek-spawning; males defend a sand site)not documented for L. albus; sand-dwelling Lethrinops congeners typically carry only a few dozen eggs/fry
Sexual dimorphismYesFemales silvery with a yellowish dorsal wash; breeding males flush blue-green over head and body with a yellow throat and pale yellow-tinged chest.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Kande Island population

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

Colour reference: living Kande Island fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Lethrinops albus is a silvery, sand-dwelling haplochromine cichlid endemic to Lake Malawi, one of the species Charles Tate Regan placed in his newly erected genus Lethrinops in 1922. Across broad sandy shelves at moderate depth it works the bottom for buried invertebrates, dropping its protrusible jaws into the substrate and sifting mouthfuls of sand to strain out insect larvae and small crustaceans. Drab and unassuming for most of the year, breeding males flush blue-green over the head and body with a yellow throat, a transformation that drives the genus's lek-style courtship on the open sand.

Full Lethrinops albus account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Lethrinops albus "Kande Island"
  2. FishBase — Lethrinops albus (Regan, 1922)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Lethrinops albus (species record)
  4. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Lethrinops (genus record)
  5. GBIF — Lethrinops albus Regan, 1922
  6. The ETYFish Project — Cichlidae (Pseudocrenilabrinae l–o): Lethrinops / albus etymology
  7. IUCN Red List — Lethrinops albus "Kande Island"
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