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289:) minimizing its visibility. The mouth is quite large and jaws are relatively long, reaching about one-third of the body length. This large and impressive cichlid normally shows a whitish-silver body with a brown horizontal stripe along the sides, from the snout to the tail. Sexually mature males put on a dazzling metallic blue with reds and oranges on their fins.
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site. Normally the spawning site sits between beds of aquatic plants but occasionally it is placed underneath or in the vicinity of a submerged tree trunk, or beneath an overhanging rock. The courting males display their more intense colours and vigorously lead the females to the spawning site. The
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In aquarium they should be housed in at least a 100-gallon tank to accommodate their large size and aggressive behaviour. Also, any other fishes that are smaller in size and less assertive should be avoided as they are likely to be eaten. This species also is likely to behave aggressively towards
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may be a non-territorial open-water predator, but also an ambush predator. Their laterally-compressed bodies are an adaptation that permits them to hide amongst aquatic plants and dart out to grasp prey as it passes. These cichlids are mainly
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usually prefer to swim out in the open unlike the more common "Mbuna" (rock dwellers). They can become quite aggressive during spawning, vigorously defending their territory from all intruders. A single male should be kept in a
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Though the eyeballs of cyprinids have been found in gut samples taken from this species, it is not clear whether this is normal feeding behaviour or occurs only when food is scarce, as with the North
American
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can reach a length of about 23 centimetres (9.1 in). The females are considerably smaller than males. The body is narrow and laterally compressed (hence the Latin name
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which resemble the eggs and which attract the female. When the female opens her mouth to add these "eggs" to the brood in her mouth the male releases his
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the females are solitary, holding the young in their mouths for around 3 weeks and eventually release their brood among the schools of juvenile
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female lays her eggs into the spawning site and then immediately takes them into her mouth. The males have markings on their
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Konings, A. 1995. Malawi
Cichlids in their Natural Habitat. Second Edition. Cichlid Press, St. Leon-Rot, Germany.
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274:. This predatory cichlid is found in Lake Malawi, Lake Malombe, and the upper Shire River within East Africa.
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other similarly colored species. As with all cichlids of Lake Malawi, they prefer hard, alkaline water.
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This species once was regarded as a specialist, feeding on eyes of other fishes (hence the common name
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Konings, A.; Kazembe, J.; Makocho, P. & Mailosi, A. (2019) .
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327:males excavate a shallow depression in the sand as
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512:Dimidiochromis compressiceps in Cichlid Forum
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818:IUCN Red List least concern species
436:IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
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352:which hide among the vegetation.
372:. It is endemic to Lake Malawi,
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360:This species can be found in
639:Dimidiochromis_compressiceps
625:Dimidiochromis compressiceps
595:Dimidiochromis compressiceps
544:Dimidiochromis compressiceps
483:Dimidiochromis compressiceps
429:Dimidiochromis compressiceps
390:Dimidiochromis compressiceps
313:Dimidiochromis compressiceps
283:Dimidiochromis compressiceps
263:Dimidiochromis compressiceps
190:Dimidiochromis compressiceps
39:Dimidiochromis compressiceps
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232:Haplochromis compressiceps
344:the eggs. While they are
216:Paratilapia compressiceps
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81:Scientific classification
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479:; Pauly, Daniel (eds.).
576:Malawi Cichlid Homepage
252:of the Malawi eyebiter.
224:Cyrtocara compressiceps
828:Fish described in 1908
443:: e.T60893A155043684.
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384:Aquarium requirements
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172:D. compressiceps
493:. June 2018 version.
51:Conservation status
340:into her mouth to
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777:Open Tree of Life
587:Taxon identifiers
546:Malawi Eye-Biter"
248:Toothed oral and
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235:(Boulenger, 1908)
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388:In the aquarium
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250:pharyngeal jaws
219:Boulenger, 1908
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477:Froese, Rainer
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550:. Retrieved
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374:Lake Malombe
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356:Distribution
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138:Cichliformes
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712:iNaturalist
619:Wikispecies
456:14 November
378:Shire River
325:territorial
318:piscivorous
278:Description
812:Categories
552:5 December
405:References
366:Mozambique
342:inseminate
334:anal fins
272:Cichlidae
198:Boulenger
166:Species:
148:Cichlidae
104:Kingdom:
98:Eukaryota
730:11041373
686:FishBase
610:Q1931344
604:Wikidata
490:FishBase
370:Tanzania
329:spawning
299:eyebiter
293:Behavior
207:Synonyms
144:Family:
118:Chordata
114:Phylum:
108:Animalia
94:Domain:
71:IUCN 3.1
795:1018246
704:2369877
200:, 1908)
154:Genus:
134:Order:
124:Class:
69: (
41:at the
782:677707
769:106584
743:649015
678:994774
652:387791
368:, and
362:Malawi
790:WoRMS
756:60893
725:IRMNG
717:99296
665:3676Y
395:harem
350:utaka
764:NCBI
751:IUCN
738:ITIS
699:GBIF
691:2137
647:BOLD
554:2018
458:2021
441:2019
338:milt
323:The
268:fish
256:The
673:EoL
660:CoL
634:ADW
445:doi
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
