Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Mylochromis epichorialis

Mylochromis epichorialis "Mumbo Island"

Mumbo Island — MOOM-boh 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 Mylochromis epichorialis account →

Specific to Mumbo 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 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 Mumbo Island population

Mylochromis epichorialis "Mumbo Island" is the Mumbo Island population of Mylochromis epichorialis, a geographic colour form from the Malawi coast of Lake Malawi in the southern 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 Mumbo Island 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 "Mumbo Island"
  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)