Taxonomy & naming
Maylandia sp. "Zebra Mbowe" carries no describing author, no type specimen, and no dedicated listing in Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes. The name references Maylandia zebra, described by George Albert Boulenger in 1899 as Tilapia zebra and the type species around which the genus Maylandia was later built, whose barred blue pattern gives the wider mbuna group its popular "zebra" nickname. Because M. zebra itself varies considerably in colour and body proportions from reef to reef, and because several genetically distinct species have historically been passed under the zebra name before being split out, populations of this general type are routinely tagged "sp. Zebra [locality]" pending closer comparison rather than assumed to be the described species outright. Mbowe Island marks this population's own collection point; whether it will ultimately prove to be M. zebra or a separate taxon has not been established here.
Morphology
Maylandia sp. "Zebra Mbowe" has the classic deep-bodied, barrel-shaped build associated with the zebra-type mbuna, in contrast to the more slender elongatus-type body plan seen elsewhere in the genus. Consistent with M. zebra generally, males are expected to show a blue base colour with dark vertical bars, and females a more variable pattern that can include blue-barred or orange-blotched (OB) individuals depending on the population; no published colour or morphometric account exists for the Mbowe Island population specifically, so this account does not fix a precise pattern for it.
Habitat
This form is documented from Mbowe Island on the northern Malawian shore of Lake Malawi. As with other rock-dwelling Maylandia, it is expected to be confined to rocky and rock-sand transition habitat rather than open sand or deep water, in the alkaline, well-buffered water typical of the entire lake.
Feeding
No feeding study specific to this population has been published. Like other Maylandia it is presumed to graze aufwuchs, the algae and diatom film coating sunlit rock, scraping it loose with the fine, densely packed teeth characteristic of the genus and taking small invertebrates from within that film opportunistically.
Mating
Mating behaviour has not been documented for this population specifically. Maylandia generally follow the standard lek-like mbuna system: males hold and defend small rock or cave territories without pair bonding, displaying to and courting ripe females that enter the territory, with strong colour-based assortative mating documented across the lake's mbuna radiation generally.
Breeding
Reproduction follows the standard Maylandia pattern of maternal mouthbrooding: the female takes the fertilised eggs into her mouth after spawning and broods them alone, typically for three to four weeks, before releasing free-swimming fry with no further parental involvement from either parent. Clutch size for this population specifically has not been documented.
In the aquarium
This form is not consistently distinguished from ordinary M. zebra in the general aquarium trade, and no dedicated husbandry record exists for it under this name. Were it kept as a distinct population, care would follow standard zebra-type Maylandia husbandry: a long tank with dense rockwork offering multiple broken sightlines and cave territories, alkaline, well-buffered water in the mid-20s Celsius, and a vegetable-forward, spirulina-based diet. Because it closely resembles the described M. zebra and other zebra-type populations, it should not be housed with them if maintaining a documented, single-locality breeding line matters.
Conservation
Maylandia sp. "Zebra Mbowe" has not been evaluated by the IUCN Red List, and as an undescribed or unconfirmed population it is not currently eligible for a dedicated assessment. Maylandia zebra itself, the species this population resembles, is broadly distributed across the lake and widely kept, but that status cannot be extended automatically to every locality-specific population without a targeted survey, which does not exist for Mbowe Island specifically.