Maylandia lombardoi, is a 13 centimetres (5.1 in) long freshwater fish from the family Cichlidae. This species is popular in the aquarium hobby where it is sold under a variety of common names including: lombardoi mbuna, kenyi mbuna or kennyi mbuna or kenyi cichlid. This species is sometimes seen in the genus Metriaclima owing to a dispute in which a minority of cichlid researchers do not consider Maylandia valid (see Maylandia for discussion. The specific name honours the exotic fish dealer John Lombardo.[3]
| Maylandia lombardoi | |
|---|---|
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| male (front) and female (back) | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Cichliformes |
| Family: | Cichlidae |
| Genus: | Maylandia |
| Species: | M. lombardoi
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| Binomial name | |
| Maylandia lombardoi (W. E. Burgess, 1977)
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| Synonyms[2] | |
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Distribution and habitat edit
It is endemic to the rocky shores of Mbenji Island, Lake Malawi in east Africa.[2] The species is highly sexually dimorphic, females and juvenile males are pale white-blue with several blue-black vertical bands extending into the dorsal fin. Adult males turn bright yellow with faint brown bars crossing the body; fins are plain yellow with egg spots on the anal fin.
In the aquarium edit
Kenyi cichlids are often found in the aquarium hobby. They are often kept in single-species tanks or with other similar Mbunas.
Reproduction edit
Like most mbuna cichlids, this species is a maternal mouthbrooder. When mouthbrooding, females may defend a small territory and assume the colouration of males.
Images of Kenyi cichlids edit
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A male M. lombardoi in an aquarium. -
M. lombardoi male. -
A female M. lombardoi in an aquarium. -
A male M. lombardoi with faint stripes. -
Juvenile male M. Lombardoi with faint stripes. -
A male kenyi cichlid (M.Lombardoi) in an aquarium
See also edit
References edit
- ^ Konings, A. (2018). "Metriaclima lombardoi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018: e.T61146A47237074. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T61146A47237074.en.
- ^ a b Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2018). "Maylandia lombardoi" in FishBase. October 2018 version.
- ^ Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara (4 December 2018). "Order CICHLIFORMES: Family CICHLIDAE: Subfamily PSEUDOCRENILABRINAE (l-o)". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
- Dick Mills, Aquarium Fish, Dorling Kindersly Books, 2000
- Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2006). "Maylandia lombardoi" in FishBase. 10 2006 version.
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