Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Lethrinops atrilabris

Lethrinops atrilabris "Monkey Bay"

Monkey Bay — MUNK-ee BAY (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 atrilabris account →

Specific to Monkey Bay

  • 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 atrilabris.

IUCNNOT EVALUATED
NEnot on the EX–LC scale
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size3.1 in8 cm standard length
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth276–308 ft84–94 m
DietPresumed sediment-sifting benthic invertivore (genus-typical; no direct study)
BreedingPresumed maternal mouthbrooder (inferred from flock; not observed — known only from trawled males)Unrecorded for this species
Sexual dimorphismYesOnly breeding males known: strongly barred silvery flanks with black lips, throat and chest, and prolonged fin tips. Female/immature colour unknown but presumed countershaded.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Monkey Bay population

Lethrinops atrilabris "Monkey Bay" is the Monkey Bay population of Lethrinops atrilabris, 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 atrilabris, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Monkey Bay fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Lethrinops atrilabris is a small, deep-water haplochromine cichlid endemic to Lake Malawi, formally described by George Turner in 2022 from specimens trawled at around 90 m off Monkey Bay in the southern lake. Long known to ichthyologists by the informal field name Lethrinops 'black chin', it is named for exactly that feature — the Latin atrilabris means 'black-lipped', for the black lips, throat and chest of breeding males, which contrast sharply with strongly barred silvery flanks. A laterally compressed, large-eyed fish of under 8 cm, it belongs to the still-unformalised 'deep-water' group of the genus.

Full Lethrinops atrilabris account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Lethrinops atrilabris "Monkey Bay"
  2. Turner, G. F. 2022. A new species of deep-water Lethrinops (Cichlidae) from Lake Malawi. Journal of Fish Biology 101(6):1405–1410 (original description)
  3. Turner, G. F. 2022. A new species of deepwater Lethrinops (Cichlidae) from Lake Malawi (bioRxiv preprint; full text, holotype data, diagnosis, colour description)
  4. FishBase — Lethrinops atrilabris (Turner, 2022)
  5. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Lethrinops (genus record)
  6. Eccles, D. H. & Trewavas, E. 1989. Malawian cichlid fishes: the classification of some haplochromine genera (genus revision)