Animalia Life

Lamprichthys tanganicanus
FAMILY
Poeciliidae
TAXONOMY
Lamprichthys tanganicanus Boulenger, 1898, Mbiti Rocks, southernmost Lake Tanganyika.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Lake Tanganyika lampeye, Tanganyika pearl killifish, Tanganyika killifish.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Grows to 6 in (15 cm) in length. Sexually dimorphic and dichromatic. Males and females are silvery, sleek, and compressed and taper to the terminal mouth and caudal peduncle. Brightly reflective eyes. They have high-set pectoral fins and dorsal fins set far back, with the origin approximately over the middle of the anal fin. Caudal fins have scales at the base. Recurved teeth noticeable on the outer surface of the upper and lower jaws. Males have an anal fin with a broad base; the rays are shorter than in females. Eight or nine lines of very bright iridescent blue spots along the body, with yellowish spotting on dorsal, anal, and caudal fins and yellow pelvic fins. All observed colors and patterns vary widely, depending on the angle of the lighting. Female are smaller than males, with rounded fins. Shorter dorsal and anal fin base, anal fin rays longer than in the male. The body is silvery or bluish, and the fins are faintly yellow or orange.
DISTRIBUTION
Endemic to Lake Tanganyika.
HABITAT
Rocky shores (not sandy areas) out to a depth of about 30 ft (10 m).
BEHAVIOR
A benthopelagic fish moving in large schools with conspecifics and sometimes in schools of native freshwater herrings. Despite its predilection for schooling, individuals wander about apart from schools. Males are not aggressive toward each other. Fry form huge schools in the hundreds and even in the thousands. In aquaria newly hatched fry form schools at the water surface immediately upon hatching. Fry must be reared apart from the adults.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Feeds on aquatic and terrestrial insects, such as chironomid larvae, termites, and beetles, as well as small crustaceans, ostracods, fish scales, and small fish. The elements of this diet indicate feeding from the bottom to the surface of the water column. The recurved teeth on the outer surface of the upper and lower jaws facilitate the capture of chironomid larvae and ostracods on rocky substrates. Fish scales and small fishes indicate midwater feeding, while terrestrial insects suggest surface feeding. Aquatic vegetation does not seem to play a part in the diet.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
A bottom spawner, utilizing cracks and crevasses for its eggdeposition sites. A male and female meeting in midwater descend to the rocky substrate. The female positions herself close to a crack or crevasse in the rocks, where she ejects an egg, which is fertilized by the male. The eggs are not adhesive but become wedged in place. In aquaria they make use of a similar arrangement of rocky crevasses but also lay their eggs in spawning mops and even on the bare bottom of the aquarium. The eggs are large, 0.1 in (3 mm), but difficult to see. Eggs eye-up in about a week and hatch in two to three weeks.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not listed by the IUCN.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
Occasionally appears in the aquarium trade.

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