Otopharynx speciosus "Nkhomo Reef"
Nkhomo Reef — n-KOH-moh REEF (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 speciosus account →Specific to Nkhomo Reef
- 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 speciosus.
The Nkhomo Reef population
Otopharynx speciosus "Nkhomo Reef" is the Nkhomo Reef population of Otopharynx speciosus, 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 Otopharynx speciosus, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.
Colour reference: living Nkhomo Reef fish at malawi.si →
About the species
Otopharynx speciosus is one of the lake's many non-mbuna haplochromines that patrol the intermediate zone where scattered rock gives way to open sand — a habitat niche the genus Otopharynx has diversified into repeatedly across Lake Malawi. The species epithet, Latin for "showy" or "beautiful," points to the bright breeding dress of territorial males, the usual signal in this genus that separates a plain, silvery non-breeding fish from a fish in full display. It is documented from Nkhomo Reef on the western shore and from the South East Arm, a spread that suggests a wider lakewide distribution rather than a narrow single-reef endemic.
Full Otopharynx speciosus account →