Lethrinops sp. "Mbenji Roundhead" "Ababi Island"
Ababi Island — ah-BAH-bee 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 sp. "Mbenji Roundhead" account →Specific to Ababi 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 sp. "Mbenji Roundhead".
The Ababi Island population
Lethrinops sp. "Mbenji Roundhead" "Ababi Island" is the Ababi Island population of Lethrinops sp. "Mbenji Roundhead", a geographic colour form from the Malawi coast of Lake Malawi in the south-central part of the lake. It is the same species as Lethrinops sp. "Mbenji Roundhead", distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.
Colour reference: living Ababi Island fish at malawi.si →
About the species
Lethrinops sp. "Mbenji Roundhead" is an undescribed sand-dwelling cichlid recorded from Ababi Island, a small islet within the Mbenji Island group in west-central Lake Malawi. The trade name describes its most obvious field character: a blunter, more rounded head and snout profile than the sharper, more pointed profile typical of many Lethrinops. Waters around the Mbenji group have long been protected by local customary prohibition against fishing, making the area an unusually well-preserved site for the lake’s cichlid fauna. No authority, publication year, FishBase number, or Red List status exists for this form.
Full Lethrinops sp. "Mbenji Roundhead" account →