Otopharynx spelaeotes "Jalo Reef"
Otopharynx spelaeotes (Jalo Reef, Makonde, Mandalawi Reef, Ndumbi Point)
Jalo Reef — JAH-loh 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 spelaeotes account →Specific to Jalo 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 spelaeotes.
The Jalo Reef population
Otopharynx spelaeotes "Jalo Reef" is the Jalo Reef population of Otopharynx spelaeotes, 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 spelaeotes, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.
Colour reference: living Jalo Reef fish at malawi.si →
About the species
Otopharynx spelaeotes is a Lake Malawi haplochromine whose species name — Greek for "cave dweller" — points directly to its habit of sheltering in and around rock crevices and cave-like recesses, a more secretive lifestyle than the open-water habits of many of its Otopharynx relatives. It is documented from several sites along the lake's northern and central shorelines, and belongs to a genus whose members range from open-water zooplankton feeders to rock- and crevice-associated species like this one.
Full Otopharynx spelaeotes account →