Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Lethrinops argenteus

Lethrinops argenteus "South East Arm"

South East Arm — SOWTH EEST ARM (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 argenteus account →

Specific to South East Arm

  • 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 argenteus.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size7.5 in19 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth—not recorded
DietSand-sifting benthic invertivore (genus-typical)
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder (inferred from genus; lek-style sand spawning)not documented for L. argenteus; sand-dwelling Lethrinops congeners typically carry only a few dozen eggs/fry
Sexual dimorphismYesGenus-typical: females/non-breeders silvery and countershaded; mature males develop nuptial colour and prolonged finnage. Species-specific live-colour notes are sparse.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The South East Arm population

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

Colour reference: living South East Arm fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Lethrinops argenteus is a silvery, sand-dwelling haplochromine cichlid endemic to Lake Malawi, described by the German ichthyologist Ernst Ahl in 1926 from specimens taken near the old station of Langenburg at the north end of the lake. Its name, Latin for 'silvery', records the plain reflective sheen of preserved fish, the same drab coloration shared by most of the sand-sifting Lethrinops outside the breeding season. Like its congeners it makes its living by winnowing soft sediment for buried invertebrates over the lake's open sandy bottoms.

Full Lethrinops argenteus account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Lethrinops argenteus "South East Arm"
  2. FishBase — Lethrinops argenteus (Ahl, 1926)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Lethrinops argenteus (species record; syntypes ZMB 23479–80, near Langenburg)
  4. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Lethrinops (genus record)
  5. Ahl, E. 1926. (Description of Lethrinops argenteus). Sitzungsberichte der Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin 1926: 60 (original description)
  6. Eccles, D. H. & Trewavas, E. 1989. Malawian cichlid fishes: the classification of some haplochromine genera (genus revision; Lethrinops treatment)