Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Mylochromis epichorialis

Mylochromis epichorialis "Gome"

Gome — GOH-meh (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 epichorialis account →

Specific to Gome

  • 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 epichorialis.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size7.9 in20 cm total length
Temperature75–79 °F24–26 °C
pH8–8.5alkaline
Depth0–98 ft0–30 m
DietBenthic carnivore/sediment-sifter; takes invertebrates and crabs from sand and rock (trophic level ~3.5)
BreedingMaternal (ovophilous) mouthbrooder — inferred from the Malawi haplochromine flockUnrecorded for this species; comparable medium-large Malawi haps carry a few dozen to ~100 eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesTypical Malawi-hap dimorphism: breeding males brighter with anal-fin egg-spots; females and non-breeding fish more silvery.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Gome population

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

Colour reference: living Gome fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Mylochromis epichorialis is a medium-sized open- and rocky-substrate haplochromine cichlid endemic to Lake Malawi, originally described by Ethelwynn Trewavas in 1935 from Deep Bay (Chilumba) at the lake's northern end. A elongate, sediment-sifting predator reaching about 20 cm, it belongs to the diverse Mylochromis assemblage of sand- and rock-margin foragers. It is one of the comparatively few Malawi haplochromines to carry a Least Concern conservation assessment, reflecting a wide distribution across both ends of the lake.

Full Mylochromis epichorialis account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Mylochromis epichorialis "Gome"
  2. FishBase — Mylochromis epichorialis (Trewavas, 1935) (SpecCode 2227; size, distribution, depth, diet, IUCN)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Mylochromis epichorialis (species record; original name Haplochromis epichorialis, authorship, type locality, lectotype)
  4. Trewavas, E., 1935 — A synopsis of the cichlid fishes of Lake Nyasa. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (Series 10) 16(91): 65–118 (original description)
  5. Eccles, D.H. & E. Trewavas, 1989 — Malawian cichlid fishes: the classification of some haplochromine genera (genus revision; Maravichromis, lectotype designation)
  6. GBIF — Mylochromis epichorialis (Trewavas, 1935) (occurrence records)