Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Rhamphochromis esox

Rhamphochromis esox "Narungu"

Narungu — nah-ROON-goo (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 Rhamphochromis esox account →

Specific to Narungu

  • 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 Rhamphochromis esox.

IUCNVULNERABLE · 2019
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size16.5 in42 cm standard length
Temperature73–82 °F23–28 °C
pH7.7–8.8alkaline
Depth7–213 ft2–65 m
DietPelagic piscivore (small open-water fish)
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder117-680 eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesMature males brighter — orange pelvic fins, dorsal/anal fins flushing blue, and an anal fin with up to about eight eggspots that can turn intensely orange; females and overall ground colour stay silvery
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Narungu population

Rhamphochromis esox "Narungu" is the Narungu population of Rhamphochromis esox, 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 Rhamphochromis esox, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Narungu fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Rhamphochromis esox is the streamlined, fish-eating cichlid that hobbyists nickname the "Malawi barracuda" and Malawian fishers call mcheni. Endemic to Lake Malawi, it is the most distinctive and easily recognized member of a notoriously confusing genus of open-water predators, built like a torpedo around a long jaw full of teeth. While most of its relatives stalk the dim offshore depths, Rhamphochromis esox hunts in shallow, near-surface water, which puts an otherwise lake-wide and abundant fish squarely in the path of the inshore fishery that has driven its numbers down.

Full Rhamphochromis esox account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Rhamphochromis esox "Narungu"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: Rhamphochromis esox (species record)
  3. FishBase: Rhamphochromis esox (Boulenger, 1908)
  4. iNaturalist taxon: Rhamphochromis esox
  5. Ngwira (2021), GRÓ Fisheries Training Programme: aquaculture potential of Rhamphochromis (ecology, maturity, fecundity, breeding)
  6. Turner, Robinson, Shaw & Carvalho (2004): Identification and biology of Diplotaxodon, Rhamphochromis and Pallidochromis (genus revision, via Catalog of Fishes references)