Sexual dimorphismYesStrong dichromatism: males blue-backed with golden-yellow breast and yellow dorsal fin; females plain pale blue-grey to light brown with yellow-edged fins. Multiple location color morphs (e.g. brown-backed males at Mbweca/Tumbi Point).

PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Thumbi West Island population

Maylandia aurora "Thumbi West Island" is the Thumbi West Island population of Maylandia aurora, a geographic colour form from the Malawi coast of Lake Malawi in the southern part of the lake. It is the same species as Maylandia aurora, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Thumbi West Island fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Maylandia aurora is a small, sharply two-toned mbuna endemic to the northern reaches of Lake Malawi, where blue-and-gold males hold court along the seam where rocky reef meets open sand. It is the namesake of the "aurora group," a cluster of look-alike species whose females are so similar they often cannot be told apart by color alone. Long traded under three different genus names, it is a hardy, handsomely colored fish whose biggest in-tank liability is the same temper that makes it interesting in the wild.

Full Maylandia aurora account →

Sources

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