Maylandia lombardoi

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
male (front) and female (back)

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Cichliformes
Family: Cichlidae
Genus: Maylandia
Species:
M. lombardoi
Binomial name
Maylandia lombardoi
(W. E. Burgess, 1977)
Synonyms[2]
  • Pseudotropheus lombardoi Burgess, 1977
  • Metriaclima lombardoi (Burgess, 1977)

Distribution and habitat

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

Kenyi cichlids are sold for the aquarium hobby.

Reproduction

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
  • A male M. lombardoi in an aquarium.
  • M. lombardoi male.
  • A female M. lombardoi in an aquarium.
  • A female M. lombardoi with faint stripes.
  • Juvenile female M. Lombardoi with faint stripes.

See also

References
  1. Konings, A. (2018). "Metriaclima lombardoi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018: e.T61146A47237074. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T61146A47237074.en.
  2. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2018). "Maylandia lombardoi" in FishBase. October 2018 version.
  3. 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.


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