Taxonomy & naming
Maylandia lundoensis was described in 2013 by Jay R. Stauffer Jr., Kristin E. Black and Adrianus F. Konings, in their paper 'Descriptions of five new species of Metriaclima (Teleostei: Cichlidae) from Lake Malaŵi, Africa,' published in Zootaxa (volume 3647, pages 101–136). It was one of five new mbuna named in that work, three of them — lundoensis, midomo and a third form — from the rocky shores of Lundo Island in Tanzanian waters at the north-eastern corner of the lake.
The genus name carries a long-running nomenclatural dispute. The species was described in the genus Metriaclima, coined by Stauffer and colleagues in 1997 (Greek for 'moderately sloping,' for the head profile). But Maylandia — named in 1984 by Meyer, Riehl and Zetzsche for the German aquarist and author Hans-Joachim Mayland — is the older name and, under the priority rule of zoological nomenclature, the senior synonym. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes, this atlas's authority for valid names, lists the fish as valid under Maylandia lundoensis and treats Metriaclima as a synonym; that is the usage here. Much of the European cichlid literature and Ad Konings's own books continue to use Metriaclima, so readers will meet both names for the same fish, and the original combination Metriaclima lundoense (neuter) reflects the gender of that genus.
The epithet is a toponym: it refers to Lundo Island, the species' sole known locality. Within the genus lundoensis belongs to the rock-dwelling, barred zebra-type assemblage, and is separated from sympatric congeners chiefly by male colour and fine fin detail.
Morphology
Maylandia lundoensis is a moderately sized mbuna. FishBase records a maximum of 3.5 in standard length (SL) from the type series; in the field, males reach about 4.5 in total length and females about 3.5 in. The body is the usual fusiform, moderately compressed mbuna shape, with the moderately sloped head profile and the bicuspid outer-row teeth characteristic of the genus. The dorsal fin carries the spinous-plus-soft formula typical of the group.
Colour is the diagnostic trait. Territorial males show a blue flank crossed by seven to ten narrow black bars, with a dark blue-to-purple head shot through with blue and green highlights. The dorsal fin bears a black submarginal band picked out with small yellow spots, and the anal fin is black with yellow egg-spots. Females and non-territorial males are far plainer — light brown washed with blue-green tones and faint barring, a narrow black submarginal band in the dorsal, and grey-brown caudal and anal fins. This pattern of bright, blue-barred territorial males over cryptic brown females is the standard zebra-group dichromatism.
Habitat
Maylandia lundoensis is a Lake Malawi endemic with a genuinely tiny range: it is known only from Lundo Island, off the north-eastern (Tanzanian) shore of the lake, near the boundary with the deep northern basin. This single-island distribution is among the most restricted of any described Maylandia.
The species is rock-bound but tolerant of conditions that many rock-dwellers avoid. It occupies rocky habitat over a sand base, and the field accounts note that it maintains dense populations even where the rocks are heavily dusted with sediment — a degree of silt tolerance unusual among the genus, whose members usually favour clear, sediment-free rock. The chemical setting is the standard Lake Malawi envelope: an ancient, strongly buffered rift lake with surface waters around 75–82 °F, alkaline pH of roughly 7.7–8.6, and moderate hardness, stable across the species' small range.
Feeding
Maylandia lundoensis is an aufwuchs grazer, the rock-mbuna way of life. It feeds on the algal turf that coats the rocks, with a particular emphasis — noted in the field literature — on blue-green algae (cyanobacteria), combing loose digestible material from the matrix with its bicuspid outer teeth. That it thrives on sediment-laden rock suggests it is efficient at extracting food from a less-than-pristine algal film, where many specialised grazers would struggle.
The practical consequence for aquarists is the familiar one for aufwuchs feeders: a long, plant-adapted gut that copes poorly with rich, high-protein animal foods, and a corresponding susceptibility to 'Malawi bloat.' A spirulina- and vegetable-based diet, supplemented only sparingly with animal matter, suits the species far better than meaty fare.
Mating
Breeding males of lundoensis are territorial, defending a spawning site that the field accounts describe as a burrow excavated under a rock on sand, or a sheltered spot among small rock piles near the bottom. The male advertises from this site in full blue-and-barred breeding colour, displaying to females that move through the area, while non-territorial males and females remain solitary or move in small loose groups.
No formal courtship study has been published, but the behaviour follows the standard haplochromine-mbuna sequence: the territorial male leads a receptive female to his burrow with lateral displays and shimmying movements, and spawning takes place at the shelter. Because males are colourful and site-attached while females are cryptic and mobile, mate choice is visual and territory-based — the female assessing the male's colour, vigour and the quality of his defended patch.
Breeding
Maylandia lundoensis is a maternal mouthbrooder, like all members of its genus. Spawning occurs at the male's burrow: in the classic mbuna sequence the female lays eggs a few at a time and immediately takes them into her mouth, nosing at the egg-spots on the male's anal fin so that fertilisation happens at the mouth, repeating until the clutch is complete. Brooding females then become solitary, sheltering among the rocks during the roughly three-week incubation and feeding little.
Clutch size has not been published as a precise figure for lundoensis; by the pattern of similarly sized zebra-group mbuna it is modest, on the order of a couple of dozen eggs. After incubation the female releases the free-swimming fry among the rocks and provides no further care. In the aquarium the cycle replicates readily once a settled male and conditioned females are present; the comparatively large fry accept crushed flake immediately, and moving a brooding female to a quiet rearing tank improves survival in a busy community.
In the aquarium
Maylandia lundoensis is a niche fish in the hobby — collected and traded occasionally under its 'Lundo Island' locality name, but not a mainstream mbuna, and far less common than showy zebra relatives like estherae or greshakei. Its appeal is the clean blue-and-black male with yellow-flecked fins, and its unusual tolerance of less-than-clear water. Any keeper experienced with Malawi rock cichlids can manage it.
A tank of around 65–80 US gal suits a harem of one male with three or four females, with larger groups possible in correspondingly larger aquaria. Water should be alkaline and well-buffered in the Lake Malawi mould — pH roughly 7.8–8.6, temperature 75–82 °F — kept stable with a crushed-coral or aragonite substrate, strong filtration and regular generous water changes; soft, acidic water is unsuitable.
Provide a sand base with rock piles and burrowable shelter under flat stones, mimicking the rock-over-sand habitat the fish uses for both retreat and spawning. As with the genus, lundoensis is aggressive toward conspecific males, so keep a single male and choose robust tankmates of contrasting colour so he does not mistake them for rivals. Diet should be spirulina- and vegetable-based to respect the aufwuchs-grazing gut and avoid bloat — the most common keeping mistake across the guild.
Conservation
The IUCN Red List assessed Maylandia lundoensis (under Metriaclima) as Near Threatened, with the assessment dated 22 June 2018. Near Threatened, rather than Least Concern, reflects exactly what its biology implies: a single-island endemic, restricted to the rocky shores of Lundo Island, with a population that is locally dense but geographically pinpoint. A fish confined to one small reef system is intrinsically exposed — any localised pressure falls on the entire known world population at once.
For lundoensis the most plausible threats are habitat-based: sedimentation from catchment deforestation (though this species tolerates silt better than most), localised over-collection for the aquarium trade, and the broader degradation of near-shore rocky habitat. These sit within Lake Malawi's wider trajectory — basin-scale reviews such as Chavula et al. (2023) in the Journal of Great Lakes Research document growing fishing pressure, sediment and nutrient loading, and climate-driven warming that weakens the lake's seasonal mixing. None is recorded as an active decline in lundoensis, but together they justify the cautious Near Threatened listing for a fish with nowhere else to go.