Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Protomelas virgatus

Protomelas virgatus "Harbour Island"

Harbour Island — HAR-ber EYE-land (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 Protomelas virgatus account →

Specific to Harbour Island

  • 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 Protomelas virgatus.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size5.5 in14 cm standard length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.8alkaline
Depth33 ft10 m
DietPicks invertebrates & biocover
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooderUndocumented; genus-typical brood of a few dozen up to ~100 eggs for a hap of this size
Sexual dimorphismYesBreeding males develop a greenish-blue sheen (the 'Green Steveni' look) and hold bower territories; females and subordinate males stay drab and silvery.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Harbour Island population

Protomelas virgatus "Harbour Island" is the Harbour Island population of Protomelas virgatus, a geographic colour form from the Malawi coast of Lake Malawi in the southern part of the lake. It is the same species as Protomelas virgatus, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Harbour Island fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Protomelas virgatus is a modestly sized haplochromine cichlid found only along the southwestern shore of Lake Malawi, where territorial males graze the thin algal film on shallow, sediment-dusted rocks and gather into small breeding leks. Described by Ethelwynn Trewavas in 1935 and long known to aquarists under the trade name "Haplochromis Green Steveni," it is one of the lake's many close-knit, look-alike "haps" — distinguished less by flashy color than by a peculiar jaw and a tidy pattern of dark spots running the length of its flank.

Full Protomelas virgatus account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Protomelas virgatus "Harbour Island"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Haplochromis virgatus / Protomelas virgatus (Trewavas 1935)
  3. FishBase — Protomelas virgatus (Trewavas, 1935)
  4. GBIF — Protomelas virgatus (accepted taxon)
  5. Chavula et al. 2023 — Lake Malawi/Niassa/Nyasa basin: Status, challenges, and research needs (J. Great Lakes Res. 49(6):102241)
  6. Chavula et al. 2023 — record and reference list (DOI 10.1016/j.jglr.2023.102241)