Taxonomy & naming
Lethrinops sp. "Auritus Selewa" has no describing author, no year of publication, and no FishBase entry of its own. Its trade name follows a common pattern in the Lake Malawi hobby and field literature: "sp." plus the epithet of a formally described relative it closely resembles, here Lethrinops auritus (Regan, 1922), combined with its own locality, Selewa. This naming convention signals resemblance, not identity — the form is not classified as L. auritus itself, and should not be treated as a synonym or a simple locality variant of that species unless a taxonomic revision formally establishes the relationship. Lethrinops is one of the largest genera in Lake Malawi's cichlid fauna, with dozens of described species and a substantial number of additional undescribed populations distinguished mainly by fine differences in colour, jaw shape, and locality, of which this is one.
Morphology
Lethrinops auritus, the species this form is named for, is a small, large-eyed haplochromine with a body built for feeding low over soft sediment. Males in breeding condition develop iridescent blue-and-yellow colouration with a prominent dark opercular spot, while females and non-breeding males stay a cryptic silvery-grey with faint vertical barring. "Auritus Selewa" is presumed to carry a broadly similar body plan and large-eyed sand-feeding profile, consistent with its name, but no dedicated description or colour account has been published for this specific population, and its precise appearance should be taken as unconfirmed rather than identical to the described species it is named after.
Habitat
This form is recorded from Mlowe and Selewa, both on the northern Malawian shore of Lake Malawi, an area of sandy and muddy margins typical of the shallow, gently sloping habitat this genus favours. Lethrinops as a genus occupies open sand and soft sediment rather than rock, feeding by sifting the substrate for buried invertebrates; L. auritus itself is documented from very shallow water, generally within about five metres of the surface. Water conditions follow Lake Malawi's typical inshore chemistry — warm, alkaline, and well-buffered — with the depth range for this specific form assumed to be genus- and relative-typical shallow sand habitat rather than separately confirmed.
Feeding
Like its namesake and the wider genus, Lethrinops sp. "Auritus Selewa" is expected to be a sand-sifting benthic invertivore: a fish that hovers low over soft sediment, mouths a portion of substrate, and sorts out small invertebrates such as insect larvae and micro-crustaceans before expelling the spent sand. This feeding mode is the defining ecological trait of the genus and the reason for its enlarged eyes, useful for spotting prey movement in and just above the sediment. No feeding study specific to this population has been published, so the diet given here is genus- and relative-typical rather than independently documented for this exact form.
Mating
Lethrinops auritus is noted for elaborate male breeding structures — rings of small mud or sand cones built around a central spawning pit, used to attract females in a lek-like arrangement with no lasting pair bond. Whether "Auritus Selewa" builds comparable structures has not been documented, but the resemblance implied by its trade name makes a similar lek-based, bower-building social system a reasonable expectation rather than a confirmed fact. Detailed observation of this specific population's courtship behaviour has not been published.
Breeding
As with every Lake Malawi cichlid, Lethrinops sp. "Auritus Selewa" is presumed to be a maternal mouthbrooder: a female takes fertilised eggs into her mouth and incubates them there until the fry are free-swimming, without further parental involvement from the male. No clutch size or brood duration has been documented specifically for this form; the genus-typical range for small Lake Malawi haplochromines runs roughly 20 to 60 eggs, offered here as a general expectation rather than a confirmed count.
In the aquarium
Lethrinops sp. "Auritus Selewa" is not established as a mainstream aquarium fish; Lethrinops as a genus is kept far less often than mbuna, and undescribed, locality-specific forms like this one circulate mainly among specialist keepers. A keeper who obtained it should provide a soft, fine sand substrate over a generous open footprint — coarse gravel is unsuitable for a sand-sifting feeder and can damage the gills — along with the standard alkaline, well-buffered Lake Malawi water chemistry, roughly 75–82 °F and pH 7.7–8.6. A varied diet of small live or frozen invertebrates alongside a quality cichlid pellet suits the genus's sand-sifting feeding style. No species-specific husbandry record exists for this exact form, and general Lethrinops practice is offered here only as a reasonable starting point.
Conservation
Lethrinops sp. "Auritus Selewa" has no IUCN Red List assessment, since formal evaluation requires a validly published scientific name and none exists for this form. Its closely related namesake, Lethrinops auritus, is assessed as Least Concern, but that status cannot be extended to this separate, unnamed population. As a shallow-water sand specialist restricted to a small stretch of the northern Malawian shore, it is exposed to the general pressures documented across Lake Malawi's inshore sand-dwelling cichlids — sedimentation, shoreline disturbance, and localised fishing pressure — but no population-specific data exist to characterise its status beyond that general context.