''Acapoeta tanganicae'', or the mbaraga, is a species of

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...

in the family

Cyprinidae Cyprinidae is a family of freshwater fish commonly called the carp or minnow family, including the carps, the true minnows, and their relatives the barbs and barbels, among others. Cyprinidae is the largest and most diverse fish family, and t ...

. The genus ''Acopoeta'' is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

and is currently classified in the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Torinae within the Cyprinidae. ''Acapoeta tanganicae'' is endemic to

Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika ( ; ) is an African Great Lakes, African Great Lake. It is the world's List of lakes by volume, second-largest freshwater lake by volume and the List of lakes by depth, second deepest, in both cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. ...

and the Rusizi River and occurs in

Burundi Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is located in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa, with a population of over 14 million peop ...

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

, and

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

. In 2012, this species was caught in the Lake Rukwa catchment, and it has been suggested that this is indicative that the catchments of Lake Tanganyika and Lake Rukwa were connected at some point in the past. It was considered that the most parsimonious explanation for its presence was that its low abundance meant it had been previously overlooked as a member of the Lake Rukwa ichthyofauna rather than deliberate introduction. Its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s are

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

s, freshwater

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

s, and inland deltas over rock substrates. It feeds on aufwuchs as well as a variety of food collected from rocky river or lake beds including insects, ostracods, diatoms and worms. It is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

caused by increased turbidity of the water due to deforestation increasing sediment runoff in the catchments of the lake's tributary rivers. Overfishing may also be a threat, although the species is still common and can be present in large shoals, and there is no data to support a decline in the stock. It can grow up to in total length. This species is distinguished from similar species of African cyprinids by having a horny rim to its lower lip and a larger number of

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelia ...

scales, ''Acapoeta'' having 62–72 lateral line scales compared to 21–44 in '' Labeobarbus'' species.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q11904060, from2=Q2698663 Torinae Cyprinid fish of Africa Fish of Burundi Fish of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Freshwater fish of Tanzania Fish of Zambia Fish of Lake Tanganyika Taxa named by Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell Monotypic cyprinid fish genera Taxonomy articles created by Polbot