Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Tyrannochromis macrostoma

Tyrannochromis macrostoma "Gome"

Gome — GOH-meh (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 Tyrannochromis macrostoma account →

Specific to Gome

  • 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 Tyrannochromis macrostoma.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2019
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size11.8 in30 cm standard length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.8alkaline
Depth16–98 ft5–30 m
DietPiscivore (hunts mbuna & other small fish)
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooderup to ~150 eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesMales much larger (~35 cm vs ~24 cm) and, when breeding, brilliant light blue with a pale-yellow belly and a near-black lower body; females and juveniles yellowish grey-silver with a dark mid-lateral stripe.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Gome population

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

Colour reference: living Gome fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Tyrannochromis macrostoma is a big-jawed, fish-eating cichlid endemic to Lake Malawi, where it patrols the sediment-dusted rocky shore hunting mbuna with a sudden sideways lunge. Its most arresting trait is reversed countershading: the belly darkens to near-black during a hunt, the opposite of almost every other fish, a camouflage trick tied to the head-down, tilted angle from which it strikes. Despite a fearsome mouth, it is a comparatively calm predator outside the breeding season, and the IUCN lists it as Least Concern across its lake-wide range.

Full Tyrannochromis macrostoma account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Tyrannochromis macrostoma "Gome"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: Tyrannochromis macrostoma (Regan 1922)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: Haplochromis polyodon (synonym of T. macrostoma)
  4. FishBase: Tyrannochromis macrostoma
  5. GBIF: Tyrannochromis macrostoma occurrence and taxonomy
  6. Chavula et al. (2023), Lake Malawi/Niassa/Nyasa basin: Status, challenges, and research needs, J. Great Lakes Research 49(6):102241