Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Otopharynx auromarginatus

Otopharynx auromarginatus "Nkolongwe"

Nkolongwe — n-koh-LOHN-gweh (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 auromarginatus account →

Specific to Nkolongwe

  • 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 auromarginatus.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size9.6 in24.5 cm total length
Temperature73–82 °F23–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth—not recorded
DietHerbivore/detritivore — grazes phytoplankton and fine material from the muddy layer over sand (FishBase trophic level ~2.0)
BreedingPresumed maternal mouthbrooder (inferred from the Malaŵi haplochromine flock; not documented for this species)Unrecorded for this species
Sexual dimorphismNot documentedNot documented in detail; Malaŵi haps are typically dimorphic, with breeding males more strongly coloured.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Nkolongwe population

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

Colour reference: living Nkolongwe fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Otopharynx auromarginatus, the golden-margined hap, is a sand-dwelling haplochromine cichlid endemic to Lake Malaŵi and its outflow, the upper Shire River. Described by George Albert Boulenger in 1908, it is the type species of the genus and, at around 24 cm, one of its larger members. Its name refers to the golden edges of its fins; ecologically it is a gentle grazer that schools over sandy bottoms at about 10 m depth, taking phytoplankton and fine material from the substrate.

Full Otopharynx auromarginatus account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Otopharynx auromarginatus "Nkolongwe"
  2. FishBase — Otopharynx auromarginatus (Boulenger, 1908), Golden-margined hap (size, distribution, diet, ecology, common name)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Otopharynx auromarginatus (valid name, authorship, lectotype, distribution)
  4. Boulenger, G.A., 1908 — Diagnoses of new fishes discovered by Captain E.L. Rhoades in Lake Nyassa. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (8) 2(9):238–243 (original description, as Tilapia auromarginata)
  5. Eccles, D.H. & E. Trewavas, 1989 — Malaŵian Cichlid Fishes: a classification of some Haplochromine genera (lectotype designation; genus Otopharynx, type species)
  6. Maréchal, C., 1991 — Otopharynx, p. 347–351, in Check-list of the Freshwater Fishes of Africa (CLOFFA) Vol. 4 (distribution, ecology)