Xenotilapia spiloptera "Lufungu Bay"
Xenotilapia spiloptera (Cape Chaitika, Cape Kachese, Cape Mpimbwe, Chimba, Chituta Bay, Kala, Kalambo Lodge, Kapampa, Kasakalawe, Kasanga, Kekese, Kipili, Kisambala, Kombe, Luagala Point, Lufungu Bay, Lyamembe, Mabilibili, Mahale Mountains NP, Mbita Island, Moliro, Molwe, Msalaba, Muzi, Mvuna Island, Sibwesa)
Lufungu Bay — loo-FOON-goo BAY (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 Xenotilapia spiloptera account →Specific to Lufungu Bay
- 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 Xenotilapia spiloptera.
The Lufungu Bay population
Xenotilapia spiloptera "Lufungu Bay" is the Lufungu Bay population of Xenotilapia spiloptera, 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 Xenotilapia spiloptera, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.
Colour reference: living Lufungu Bay fish at tanganyika.si →
About the species
Xenotilapia spiloptera is a small, pastel-toned sand-sifting cichlid endemic to Lake Tanganyika, where it works the blurred boundary between rock and open sand. Like the rest of its genus it feeds by taking mouthfuls of substrate and winnowing edible larvae through its gills, and like only a handful of cichlid lineages it raises its young as a biparental mouthbrooder, passing the developing brood from the female's mouth to the male's partway through incubation. Reliably hardy by Xenotilapia standards, it is the species most often recommended to aquarists taking their first run at this notoriously delicate group.
Full Xenotilapia spiloptera account →Sources
- tanganyika.si — Xenotilapia spiloptera "Lufungu Bay"
- Catalog of Fishes (Eschmeyer) — Xenotilapia spilopterus
- FishBase — Xenotilapia spilopterus summary
- The taxonomic diversity of the cichlid fish fauna of ancient Lake Tanganyika (208 valid species inventory)
- Evolutionary relationships in the sand-dwelling cichlid lineage of Lake Tanganyika (convergent biparental mouthbrooding)
- Climate change decreases aquatic ecosystem productivity of Lake Tanganyika (O'Reilly et al. 2003, Nature)
- IUCN Red List — Xenotilapia spiloptera "Lufungu Bay"