Original description as Tilapia karomo:
ZooBank:EC4A6BFB-62A8-4442-A9DC-63FDED228DA1.
- Poll, Max. 1948. "Descriptions de Cichlidae nouveaux recueillis par la mission hydrobiologique belge au Lac Tanganika (1946-1947)". Bulletin de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique. 24(26):1-31 (crc00136)
Conservation: Oreochromis karomo is evaluated by the international union for the conservation of nature in the iucn red list of threatened species as (CR) critically endangered (2006).