Male in the aquarium
Wild caught male of Oreochromis tanganicae in the aquarium of Rusty Wessel, Louisville [USA], Jul-2007. Photo by Spencer Jack. (29-Jul-2007). determiner Ad Konings

Family
Cichlidae

Sub-family
Pseudocrenilabrinae

Tribe
Oreochromini

Genus
Oreochromis


Curator

Published:

Last updated on:
13-Dec-2015

Oreochromis tanganicae (Günther, 1894)

Makoli; Mpende; Ngege; Ngugwe.


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Original description as Chromis tanganicae:

ZooBank:C046D75F-C645-469E-ABF5-5DB35097C9A2.

  • Günther, Albert C. L. G. 1894. "Descriptions of the reptiles and fishes collected by Mr. E. Coode-Hore on Lake Tanganyika". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 1893(4):628-632 (crc00212)

Synonyms (2):

Conservation: Oreochromis tanganicae is evaluated by the international union for the conservation of nature in the iucn red list of threatened species as (LC) least concern (2006). Large schools of O. tanganicae are not that rare in the Tanzanian waters of the lake, but in the other parts it has become a rare food fish. Since such schools move around in shallow water they are easily targeted by beach seine fishermen. This is perhaps the reason that outside of Tanzanian waters O. tanganicae is often seen as small groups comprising of a few individuals in the intermediate habitat where they find protection from seines by the presence of rocks. In Sumbu National Park in Zambia O. tanganicae has staged a comeback after it was wiped out in almost all Zambian waters 20-30 years ago. The enforced protection of inshore waters has benefited the species and ultimately also the people living along the shores of the lake.