Mylochromis labidodon "Mbenji Island"
Mylochromis labidodon (Mbenji Island)
Mbenji Island — m-BEHN-jee 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 labidodon account →Specific to Mbenji 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 labidodon.
The Mbenji Island population
Mylochromis labidodon "Mbenji Island" is the Mbenji Island population of Mylochromis labidodon, 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 labidodon, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.
Colour reference: living Mbenji Island fish at malawi.si →
About the species
Mylochromis labidodon is a sand- and intermediate-zone cichlid documented from Mbenji Island in Lake Malawi, part of the large genus Mylochromis whose members are generally larger, more predatory haplochromines than the algae-grazing mbuna that dominate the lake's rocky shore. Its species epithet, Greek for "forceps tooth," describes an elongated, protruding dentition — the same kind of specialised jaw architecture seen in the unrelated genus Labidochromis — suggesting a fish adapted to grasping rather than merely biting prey, whether that prey is other fish, invertebrates, or the scales of neighbouring cichlids.
Full Mylochromis labidodon account →