Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Maylandia lundoensis

Maylandia lundoensis "Lundo Island"

Lundo Island — LOON-doh 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 Maylandia lundoensis account →

Specific to Lundo 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 Maylandia lundoensis.

IUCNNEAR THREATENED · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size3.3 in8.3 cm standard length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth3–66 ft1–20 m
DietAufwuchs grazer; combs loose material (especially blue-green algae) from sediment-dusted rocks
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooderNot published as a figure for this species; modest (zebra-group typical)
Sexual dimorphismYesTerritorial males blue with 7–10 narrow black bars, dark blue-purple head, and a yellow-spotted black submarginal band in the dorsal; females and non-territorial males plain light brown with faint bars.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Lundo Island population

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

Colour reference: living Lundo Island fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Maylandia lundoensis is a rock-dwelling mbuna endemic to the waters around Lundo Island, in the Tanzanian north-east of Lake Malawi, where it is the only known population of the species. Territorial males are a clean blue crossed by seven to ten narrow black bars, with a dark blue-to-purple head and yellow-spotted fins; females are a plain light brown. Described in 2013 alongside its island-mate Maylandia midomo, it grazes blue-green algae from sediment-dusted rocks, a niche it holds in surprising density given how silt-laden its habitat can be.

Full Maylandia lundoensis account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Maylandia lundoensis "Lundo Island"
  2. FishBase — Maylandia lundoensis (Stauffer, Black & Konings, 2013), species summary (SpecCode 67682; max 8.3 cm SL; IUCN NT 22 Jun 2018)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Maylandia lundoensis (species record; valid name, authorship, type locality Lundo Island, Tanzania)
  4. Stauffer, J.R. Jr., Black, K.E. & Konings, A.F. 2013 — Descriptions of five new species of Metriaclima (Teleostei: Cichlidae) from Lake Malaŵi, Africa. Zootaxa 3647(1):101–136 (original description)
  5. Sciency Thoughts — Five new species of Mbuna from Lake Malaŵi (summary of the 2013 Stauffer, Black & Konings descriptions)
  6. GBIF — Metriaclima lundoense Stauffer, Black & Konings, 2013 (occurrence and taxonomy)