Original description as Tilapia macrophthalma:
ZooBank:FC0F83C3-B04E-48F2-AD1E-5964C5FEACFC.
- Boulenger, George Albert. 1908. "Diagnoses of new fishes discovered by Capt. E. L. Rhoades in Lake Nyassa". Annals and Magazine of Natural History. (Ser8)238-243 (crc00068)
Conservation: Lethrinops macrophthalmus is evaluated by the international union for the conservation of nature in the iucn red list of threatened species as (VU) vulnerable (2006).