Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Otopharynx sp. "Auromarginatus Margrette"

Otopharynx sp. "Auromarginatus Margrette" "Mbamba Islands"

Otopharynx sp. "Auromarginatus Margrette" (Likoma Island, Maingano Island, Mbamba Islands, Ndomo Point)

Mbamba Islands — m-BAHM-bah EYE-landz (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 sp. "Auromarginatus Margrette" account →

Specific to Mbamba Islands

  • 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 sp. "Auromarginatus Margrette".

CARESNOT LISTED
Genus type speciesOtopharynx auromarginatusdescribed as Tilapia auromarginata Boulenger 1908
Scientific size6 in15 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)up to 446 ppm
Habitat watermoderately soft, alkaline, well-buffered79 ppmLake Malawi
Depth26–98 ft8–30 m
DietGeneralist forager over rock and adjacent sand (genus-typical for Otopharynx; specific diet not documented for this form)
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder (polygynous; no pair bond)not documented for this form; genus-typical broods for mid-sized Otopharynx run to several dozen eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesColour not documented for this specific form; the related described species Otopharynx auromarginatus is named for gold-edged fin markings in males, which this form's trade name references.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Mbamba Islands population

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

Colour reference: living Mbamba Islands fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Otopharynx sp. "Auromarginatus Margrette" is an undescribed haplochromine recorded around the Likoma Island group in the middle of Lake Malawi — Malawian territory surrounded by Mozambican waters. Its trade name pairs it with the described species Otopharynx auromarginatus, "gold-margined," suggesting a resemblance in fin colouration, though the fish has never been formally studied or described in its own right and the exact nature of that resemblance is not documented in the sources available here.

Full Otopharynx sp. "Auromarginatus Margrette" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Otopharynx sp. "Auromarginatus Margrette" "Mbamba Islands"
  2. malawi.si — Otopharynx sp. "Auromarginatus Margrette" locality records (Konings/Bauer database)
  3. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press)
  4. Cichlid Room Companion — Lake Malawi cichlid reference (Ad Konings et al.)
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