Lethrinops sp. "Nyassae" "Nkhata Bay"
Lethrinops sp. "Nyassae" (Chiloelo, Chitande Island, Kande Island, Lions Cove, Lupingu, Mbahwa, Msisi, Nkhata Bay, Undu Reef)
Nkhata Bay — n-KAH-tah 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. "Nyassae" account →Specific to Nkhata 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. "Nyassae".
The Nkhata Bay population
Lethrinops sp. "Nyassae" "Nkhata Bay" is the Nkhata Bay population of Lethrinops sp. "Nyassae", a geographic colour form from the Malawi coast of Lake Malawi in the central part of the lake. It is the same species as Lethrinops sp. "Nyassae", distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.
Colour reference: living Nkhata Bay fish at malawi.si →
About the species
Lethrinops sp. "Nyassae" is a small, undescribed sand-dwelling cichlid from Lake Malawi, part of the genus's distinctive group of bower-building haplochromines. It is recorded from scattered localities on both the Malawian and Tanzanian shores, including sites well documented in Ad Konings's field studies of Lethrinops breeding behaviour. Unusually for the genus, this form does not build its own bower but instead occupies structures abandoned by other species — a behaviour documented directly in the literature and one of the few specific facts published about it. It carries no authority, no publication year, no FishBase number, and no IUCN assessment.
Full Lethrinops sp. "Nyassae" account →