Melanochromis labrosus ID confirmation

[Colby Dixon]

Hey folks,

The Cichlidbase project needs your help! While Alex Calder is working on version 3.0 (Blog) we are attempting to positively ID and validate suspected ID's of many of our Cichlid photographs. Juan has graciously agreed to let us use this Forum's Expertise in verifying our photos. Any and all help is appreciated. All photos by Alex Calder.

Thank You,
Colby Dixon and the entire Cichlidbase team.

This one was labeled as Melanochromis labrosus



BTW the fish below and behind is thought to be Buccochromis rhoadesii

[Marius Purcel]

Nice young male. M. Labrosus it is.

[Philippe Burnel]

I think Melanochromis would be better between quotes for this species.

[Colby Dixon]

I think Melanochromis would be better between quotes for this species.

I'm guessing that you don't feel that this fish belongs in the Melanochromis genus, handr there is no paper establishing a new genus...is this a correct assumption? It certainly doesn't share a lot of the visual characteristics I've come to associate with Melanochromis.

[Mark Smith]

It may be best to put the genus name in quotes or say: exMelanochromis. Everyone, from ichthyologists to most hobbyists can see that it does not belong to the genus Melanochromis.

[Alex Calder]

If the genus is in dispute then I should not put the image to use until such a time as that passes. The CB is seeded by the accepted genera listed in the Catalog of Fishes. I communicated with several of the scientists behind that project in order to gain permission to use information from the resource, the genera list for the family cichlidae. In the present incarnation if a genus is not accepted then it does not exist in the cichlidbase. Perhaps we need to look into changing this, though that could be a chore considering how the system currently handles the nomenclature. But that is too heavy a discussion for this thread. If people were interested in knowing/understanding more about the software I would happily explain it in the blog below. However I get the impression that I would soon put people to sleep were I to bring up the subject.