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Maylandia aurora (Burgess, 1976)

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Maylandia aurora
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Cichliformes (Cichlids, convict blennies) > Cichlidae (Cichlids) > Pseudocrenilabrinae
Etymology: Maylandia: In honour of Hans J. Mayland, German ictiologist (Ref. 45335).

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Freshwater; demersal; pH range: 7.5 - 8.5; dH range: 12 - 30; depth range 2 - 12 m (Ref. 9605), usually 2 - 5 m (Ref. 6256). Tropical; 24°C - 26°C (Ref. 1672); 12°S - 15°S

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Africa: Lake Malawi at Likoma Island (Ref. 6256, 86409) and along the coast of Mozambique between Mara Point and Tumbi Point and south near N'kolongwe (Ref. 86409). Populations have been transplanted in Lake Malawi to Otter Point and Thumbi West Island (Ref. 6256, 86409).

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 8.7 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 5684); 8.0 cm SL (female)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 17 - 19; Dorsal soft rays (total): 8 - 10; Anal spines: 3 - 4; Anal soft rays: 7 - 8. Diagnosis: The lack of a black submarginal band in the dorsal fin, a yellow ventral half of the head, breast, and dorsal fin, and the light-brown coloured females that have yellow fin-margins distinguish Maylandia aurora from most members of the genus, except M. hajomaylandi, M. chrysomallos, and M. xanthos; it differs from M. hajomaylandi and M. chrysomallos by fewer, faint, vertical bars below the dorsal fin, 6 vs. 7-9; and from M. xanthos by a shorter lower jaw, 28.4-33.5% of head length vs. 34.6-36.7% (Ref. 86409). Colouration: Lateral body colouration blue dorsally in males from likoma Island, Mara Point North, and N'kolongwe, but brown dorsally in males from Mbweca and Tumbi Point, with anterior portion of scales sky-blue and 6 faint blue bars below dorsal fin; caudal peduncle dark blue; yellow belly and breast fading to light blue towards anal fin; head sky-blue with preorbital, ventral half of cheek, operculum and preoperculum yellow; dark yellow/green opercular spot; gular yellow; dorsal fin yellow with submarginal sky-blue band and sky-blue blotches throughout; caudal-fin rays yellow with light-blue membranes; anal fin pale blue to pale yellow with one ocellus; pelvic fin with light-blue leading edge, remaining yellow; pectoral-fin rays pale yellow and membranes clear (Ref. 86409). Female lateral ground colouration pale blue with center of scales orange/brown; belly white; head brown; cheek and operculum with purple highlights; gray/black opercular spot; white gular; dorsal fin brown with brown lappets; caudal-fin rays brown with clear membranes; anal fin gray proximally and brown distally with single small orange/brown ocellus; pelvic finwith white leading edge; first two rays and membranes brown, remainder clear; pectoral fin clear (Ref. 86409).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Found in the intermediate zones of Lake Malawi, being particularly common along the rock-sand interface; occasionally it occurs in purely rocky habitats which are close to sand; most numerous between 2 and 5 m depth (Ref. 6256). Territories are held by males, usually over the upper surfaces of medium-sized and large rocks, but a small proportion of males occupy less prominent sites and some defend areas at the base of rocks where they dig sand-scrape nests; females, juveniles and non-territorial adult males occur singly or in groups of up to 30 individuals (Ref. 6256).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturities | Reproduction | Spawnings | Egg(s) | Fecundities | Larvae

Produces 40-70 eggs.

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator : Kullander, Sven O. | Collaborators

Ciccotto, P.J., A. Konings and J.R. Stauffer Jr., 2011. Descriptions of five new species in the genus Metriaclima (Teleostei: Cichlidae) from Lake Malaŵi, Africa. Zootaxa 2738:1-25. (Ref. 86409)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 20 June 2018

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: commercial; aquarium: commercial
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

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Trophic ecology
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Ecology
Ecology
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Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
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BRUVS - Videos
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Genetics
Genetics
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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01514 (0.00700 - 0.03275), b=2.97 (2.80 - 3.14), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  2.0   ±0.0 se; based on diet studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Low vulnerability (10 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Unknown.