Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Mylochromis durophagus

Mylochromis durophagus "Maison Reef"

Maison Reef — mah-EE-sohn REEF (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 Mylochromis durophagus account →

Specific to Maison Reef

  • 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 Mylochromis durophagus.

IUCNNOT EVALUATED
NEnot on the EX–LC scale
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size3.5 in9 cm standard length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth—not recorded
DietDurophagous molluscivore — heavy molariform pharyngeal teeth for crushing hard-shelled invertebrates; forages over rock and the rock–sand interface (diet inferred from dentition and habitat)
BreedingMaternal (ovophilous) mouthbrooder; polygynous, no pair bond (inferred from genus)Not published for this species; likely a few dozen eggs (inferred from similarly sized congeners — not a measured datum)
Sexual dimorphismYesSexually dichromatic: females beige with paler underside and a prominent oblique stripe; mature males darker with golden flank-scale spots and dark, orange-spotted fins.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Maison Reef population

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

Colour reference: living Maison Reef fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Mylochromis durophagus is a snail-crushing haplochromine cichlid endemic to Lake Malawi, described as recently as 2025 from rocky shores in the northwest of the lake. Its name — roughly 'hard-eater' — points to its defining feature: a lower pharyngeal bone armed with heavy, hemispherical molar-like teeth built to crush hard-shelled invertebrates. It is one of only a handful of Mylochromis to evolve this molariform dentition, and it differs from the others in its less steeply sloping head and deeper, rock-associated build.

Full Mylochromis durophagus account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Mylochromis durophagus "Maison Reef"
  2. Turner, G.F. (2025) — Two new species of Mylochromis (Cichlidae) from Lake Malawi, Africa. Journal of Fish Biology [original description of M. durophagus and M. rotundus]
  3. Turner, G.F. (2024/2025) — Two new species of Mylochromis (Cichlidae) from Lake Malawi, Africa. PMC open-access full text (holotype, dentition, habitat, etymology)
  4. bioRxiv preprint (2024) — Two new species of Mylochromis (Cichlidae) from Lake Malawi, Africa
  5. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Mylochromis durophagus Turner, 2025 (new species record)
  6. Derijst, E. & Snoeks, J. (1992) — Maravichromis Eccles & Trewavas, 1989, a junior synonym of Mylochromis Regan, 1920. Cybium 16(2):173