Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Otopharynx alpha

Otopharynx alpha "South East Arm"

South East Arm — SOWTH EEST ARM (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 Otopharynx alpha account →

Specific to South East Arm

  • 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 Otopharynx alpha.

IUCNNOT EVALUATED
NEnot on the EX–LC scale
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size5.6 in14.1 cm standard length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth16–98 ft5–30 m
DietPresumed benthic invertivore gleaning small invertebrates from open sand (small, crowded bicuspid pharyngeal teeth; no direct study)
BreedingPresumed maternal mouthbrooder (inferred from the Malaŵi haplochromine flock; not documented for this species)Unrecorded for this species
Sexual dimorphismYesMales develop the brighter yellow-and-silver coloration and anal-fin eggspots described from fresh specimens; detailed comparison with females not documented.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The South East Arm population

Otopharynx alpha "South East Arm" is the South East Arm population of Otopharynx alpha, a geographic colour form from the Malawi coast of Lake Malawi in the southern part of the lake. It is the same species as Otopharynx alpha, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living South East Arm fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Otopharynx alpha is a medium-sized, sand-dwelling haplochromine cichlid endemic to the southern arms of Lake Malaŵi, described in 2018 by Michael K. Oliver. Its name is a small joke in Morse code: the bold shoulder spot followed by a long posterior stripe reads as a 'dot and a dash' — the letter A, alpha, the first of the Greek alphabet. Long known to fish biologists under informal labels, it is a fish of open sandy shoals in 5–30 m of water, distinguished by a unique melanin pattern and a finely toothed throat bone.

Full Otopharynx alpha account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Otopharynx alpha "South East Arm"
  2. Oliver, M.K., 2018 — Six new species of the cichlid genus Otopharynx from Lake Malaŵi (Teleostei: Cichlidae). Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History 59(2):159–197 (original description)
  3. Six New Species of the Cichlid Genus Otopharynx from Lake Malaŵi — full PDF (description, type locality, melanin pattern, etymology, distribution)
  4. FishBase — Otopharynx alpha Oliver, 2018 (size, meristics, diagnosis)
  5. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Otopharynx alpha (valid name, authorship, type data)
  6. Turner, G.F., 1996 — Offshore Cichlids of Lake Malawi (recorded as Otopharynx 'auromarginatus stripe'; distribution, fishery)