Taxonomy & naming
Protomelas sp. "Spilonotus Mozambique" is an informal, undescribed taxon: no describing author, no year of publication, and no entry in Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes. The tag pairs "Spilonotus," after the described Protomelas spilonotus, with "Mozambique," a broad geographic qualifier rather than a precise, independently confirmed attribution for the Hai Reef record specifically — no country could be confirmed for this particular locality in the sources consulted here, though the trade name itself signals association with the lake's eastern, Mozambican-influenced waters. Several distinctive Protomelas field populations circulate under similar provisional tags rather than published names, "spilonotus mozambique" among them, a reflection of how much unresolved diversity still sits within this genus. The resemblance to P. spilonotus is a naming convention, not a confirmed identification, and this form should be treated as a separate, unnamed population rather than a location-based colour morph of that species.
Morphology
This form shares the standard Protomelas body plan — fusiform, laterally compressed, with the genus's typical continuous dorsal fin and one or two horizontal stripes on a silvery flank. The specific epithet of Protomelas spilonotus, the species this form is named for, derives from Greek roots meaning roughly "spotted back," and by naming convention this Hai Reef population is presumed to share a broadly similar dark-spotted dorsal patterning, though no detailed colour account specific to it has been published. Genus-wide, P. spilonotus-group fish run toward the larger end of Protomelas, commonly 6.5–7 in, and this form is presumed to fall in a similar range absent independent data.
Habitat
The only locality documented for this form is Hai Reef, a rocky reef site also on record for several other Malawi cichlids including Cynotilapia zebroides, Maylandia phaeos and Aulonocara saulosi. Protomelas of the spilonotus group are typically fish of shallow intermediate habitat, in the range of roughly 13–33 ft, using rock-sand transition zones rather than pure open sand or deep rock faces. No dedicated depth record exists for this specific population, so this account follows the genus- and complex-typical pattern. Water conditions match Lake Malawi's standard littoral profile: warm, hard, and strongly alkaline.
Feeding
No feeding study specific to this population has been published. Protomelas of the spilonotus group graze algae and associated aufwuchs from rock surfaces, and some accounts describe a diet leaning more insectivorous than the strictly algae-grazing habits of other genus members such as P. taeniolatus and P. fenestratus. Absent direct evidence, this Hai Reef form is presumed to follow that same mixed aufwuchs-and-invertebrate pattern typical of the spilonotus group. Rock-sand transition zones, the habitat this form most likely occupies, offer a wider mix of forage than pure rock reef — settled organic matter and small invertebrates at the sand margin alongside the algal turf on adjacent rock — which would be consistent with a somewhat broader, less strictly herbivorous diet than the genus's more specialised rock grazers.
Mating
Courtship has not been directly documented for this form. Protomelas generally follows the standard haplochromine pattern: a colour-charged, territorial male establishes and defends a site, displaying to passing females in a loosely polygynous system with no lasting pair bond. Males across the genus are reported as persistently territorial toward similarly patterned rivals, a trait that would be expected to apply here as well, though it has not been separately confirmed for this population. A dominant male in full colour is expected to court and spawn with several females moving through his territory over the course of a day, with females showing no lasting preference for any one male beyond his current colour and the quality of the site he holds, consistent with the genus-wide pattern.
Breeding
Protomelas sp. "Spilonotus Mozambique" is presumed to be a maternal mouthbrooder, as is essentially the entire Lake Malawi haplochromine flock. Following courtship, the female is expected to take fertilised eggs into her mouth and brood them alone through to free-swimming fry. No clutch data have been published specific to this form; documented Protomelas clutches scale with body size and generally run from several dozen to over a hundred eggs, and a larger-bodied spilonotus-group fish would plausibly sit toward the higher end of that range, though that remains inference rather than measured fact.
In the aquarium
This form has limited documented presence in the general hobby and is known mainly through field and collection-locality records rather than trade volume. Where kept, standard Protomelas husbandry applies: a spacious tank with open swimming room, hard alkaline water, and a diet weighted toward vegetable matter and aufwuchs-style foods to avoid the bloat risk that affects over-fed Malawi haps. Because it shares a trade-name resemblance to the described P. spilonotus and to other "spilonotus"-tagged forms recorded elsewhere in the lake, keepers should be cautious about mixing populations or trusting unverified locality labels, since hybridisation among similar Protomelas is a well-documented hobby problem.
Conservation
Protomelas sp. "Spilonotus Mozambique" has no IUCN Red List assessment, since it has never been formally described and no valid scientific name exists for it to be evaluated under. As a reef-associated population, it is exposed to the general pressures documented across Lake Malawi's shallow-water cichlid community — artisanal and commercial fishing pressure, sediment loading from catchment deforestation, and gradual warming of the lake's surface layer — without any dedicated survey of its own numbers.