Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Trematocara marginatum

Trematocara marginatum "Kigoma area"

Kigoma area — kee-GOH-mah ah-REH-ah (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 Trematocara marginatum account →

Specific to Kigoma area

  • 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 Trematocara marginatum.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2006
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size3.9 in9.8 cm total length
Temperature75–81 °F24–27 °C
pH8.6–9.3alkaline
Depth0–295 ft0–90 m
DietNocturnal benthic invertivore / zooplanktivore — diatoms, insect larvae, mites, ostracods, eggs and other small invertebrates taken mostly from the water column at night
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder~30 relatively large eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesNo clear size difference between sexes; breeding males develop a species-specific pattern of dark melanin markings, otherwise the sexes look much alike
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Kigoma area population

Trematocara marginatum "Kigoma area" is the Kigoma area population of Trematocara marginatum, a geographic colour form from the Tanzania coast of Lake Tanganyika in the northern part of the lake. It is the same species as Trematocara marginatum, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Kigoma area fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Trematocara marginatum is a small, silvery cichlid endemic to Lake Tanganyika and the most common member of a genus famous for one extraordinary fact: trematocarines have been recorded deeper than any other cichlid on Earth, beyond 300 m (about 980 ft). It spends daylight in the dim benthopelagic zone and rises each night toward shallow sand to hunt invertebrates, navigating the dark with an unusually enlarged array of head sensory pores. Plain-looking and too small to interest fishermen, it is a quiet specialist of the lake's twilight zone rather than a showpiece of the reef.

Full Trematocara marginatum account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Trematocara marginatum "Kigoma area"
  2. Trematocara marginatum — FishBase summary
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Trematocara marginatum (species record)
  4. Evolutionary History of Lake Tanganyika's Predatory Deepwater Cichlids (Kirchberger et al. 2012, PMC3362839)
  5. Mating and Parental Care in Lake Tanganyika's Cichlids (Sefc 2011, PMC3142683)
  6. Adaptive Diversification of the Lateral Line System during Cichlid Diversification (PMC6542376)