Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Oreochromis squamipinnis

Oreochromis squamipinnis "Thumbi Point"

Thumbi Point — TOOM-bee POYNT (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 Oreochromis squamipinnis account →

Specific to Thumbi Point

  • 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 Oreochromis squamipinnis.

IUCNCRITICALLY ENDANGERED · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size14.2 in36 cm standard length
Temperature73–82 °F23–28 °C
pH7.5–8.8alkaline
Depth0–72 ft0–22 m
DietPhytoplankton grazer (diatoms) + detritus & zooplankton
BreedingMaternal mouthbroodermodest, size-dependent (genus-typical few hundred eggs); Malombe fish more fecund than SE-arm fish
Sexual dimorphismYesBreeding males have a pale blue/green/white head 'mask', black-and-white body, and long branched genital tassels (egg dummies); females and juveniles plain silvery-grey.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Thumbi Point population

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

Colour reference: living Thumbi Point fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Oreochromis squamipinnis is one of the four endemic Lake Malawi tilapias collectively traded and eaten as 'chambo' — for generations the most prized food fish in Malawi. A heavily built, maternal mouthbrooder of the subgenus Nyasalapia, it is set apart from its near-identical siblings by the breeding male's vivid pale 'mask': a head flushed blue, green or white above a body that turns coal-black below and snow-white along the back. Males excavate sand bowers in lek arenas and lure females down to spawn, after which the female alone carries the brood. Once landed by the thousands of tonnes, chambo stocks crashed under sustained overfishing through the 1990s, and the IUCN now lists this species as Critically Endangered.

Full Oreochromis squamipinnis account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Oreochromis squamipinnis "Thumbi Point"
  2. FishBase — Oreochromis squamipinnis (Kasawala)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Oreochromis squamipinnis (species record)
  4. Turner, G.F. & Oliver, M.K. — Oreochromis (Nyasalapia) squamipinnis (Günther), MalawiCichlids.com
  5. FAO — Fisheries management in south-east Lake Malawi, Upper Shire & Lake Malombe: 4. Biology of chambo
  6. Cichlid Room Companion — Oreochromis squamipinnis (Artigas Azas)