Lethrinops sp. "Longimanus Red-head" "Monkey Bay"

Monkey BayMUNK-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 sp. "Longimanus Red-head" 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 sp. "Longimanus Red-head".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size5 in13 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)very hardup to 446 ppm
Depth20–82 ft6–25 m
DietSand-sifting invertivore, filtering chironomid larvae and other micro-invertebrates from sand through the gill rakers
Breedingmaternal mouthbroodernot documented for this form; genus-typical, a few dozen eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesBreeding males show red to reddish-orange colour concentrated on the head and nape against a silvery blue-grey body; females and non-breeding males are plain silver.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Monkey Bay population

Lethrinops sp. "Longimanus Red-head" "Monkey Bay" is the Monkey Bay population of Lethrinops sp. "Longimanus Red-head", 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 sp. "Longimanus Red-head", 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 sp. "Longimanus Red-head" is an undescribed sand-dwelling cichlid recorded from Monkey Bay in southern Lake Malawi. The trade name pairs a nod to Lethrinops longimanus — a described species whose epithet refers to its elongated pectoral fins — with the population’s most obvious field mark: breeding males develop red colour concentrated on the head and nape against a silvery-blue body. Whether this Monkey Bay population is a true colour variant of L. longimanus or simply a similarly proportioned, independently named form has not been resolved. No authority, publication year, FishBase number, or Red List status exists for it.

Full Lethrinops sp. "Longimanus Red-head" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Lethrinops sp. "Longimanus Red-head" "Monkey Bay"
  2. malawi.si — Lethrinops species database
  3. Cichlid Room Companion — Lethrinops genus profile
  4. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press)