Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Tylochromis polylepis

Tylochromis polylepis "Mahale Mountains NP"

Mahale Mountains NP — mah-HAH-leh moh-oon-TAH-eens NP (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 Tylochromis polylepis account →

Specific to Mahale Mountains NP

  • 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 Tylochromis polylepis.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2006
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size17.1 in43.5 cm standard length
Temperature75–81 °F24–27 °C
pH8.6–9.3alkaline
Depth0–33 ft0–10 m
DietSand-sifting invertivore/molluscivore
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder~100 large eggs (~6 mm)
Sexual dimorphismYesWeak; lacks the dramatic male nuptial coloration of many lake cichlids, so sexes are difficult to tell apart.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Mahale Mountains NP population

Tylochromis polylepis "Mahale Mountains NP" is the Mahale Mountains NP population of Tylochromis polylepis, a geographic colour form from the Tanzania coast of Lake Tanganyika in the north-central part of the lake. It is the same species as Tylochromis polylepis, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Mahale Mountains NP fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Tylochromis polylepis is a big, silvery, sand-sifting cichlid and the sole representative of the tribe Tylochromini in Lake Tanganyika. Where most of the lake's cichlids evolved in place over millions of years, this fish is a comparative newcomer — a riverine lineage from the Congo system that slipped into the lake within roughly the last half-million years and carved out a living over the muddy and sandy bottoms that the lake's specialists largely ignore. It grows large, broods its young in the mouth, and crushes snails with reinforced throat jaws, making it one of Tanganyika's more underrated generalists.

Full Tylochromis polylepis account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Tylochromis polylepis "Mahale Mountains NP"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: Tylochromis polylepis (Boulenger 1900)
  3. FishBase: Tylochromis polylepis summary
  4. FishBase: Tylochromis polylepis territory/distribution (Congo, Lukuga)
  5. Koch et al. (2007), J. Zool. Syst. Evol. Res. — Evolutionary history of T. polylepis: a recent intruder to a mature adaptive radiation
  6. Koch et al. (2007) abstract & full text (ResearchGate)