''Bathybates'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

piscivorous A piscivore () is a carnivorous animal that primarily eats fish. Fish were the diet of early tetrapod evolution (via water-bound amphibians during the Devonian period); insectivory came next; then in time, the more terrestrially adapted rept ...

cichlid Cichlids () are a large, diverse, and widespread family of percomorph fish in the family Cichlidae, order Cichliformes. At least 1,760 species have been scientifically described, making it one of the largest vertebrate families, with on ...

s 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. ...

in East Africa. The genus includes both

pelagic The pelagic zone consists of the water column of the open ocean and can be further divided into regions by depth. The word ''pelagic'' is derived . The pelagic zone can be thought of as an imaginary cylinder or water column between the sur ...

species that mainly feed on Tanganyika sardines and

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning "the depths". ...

species that mainly feed on other cichlids.Kirchberger; Sefc; Sturmbauer; and Koblmuller (2012). Evolutionary History of Lake Tanganyika’s Predatory Deepwater Cichlids. International Journal of Evolutionary Biology, Volume 2012, Article ID 716209. They are some of the deepest-living cichlids, regularly occurring down to . They are elongated in shape with a silvery color and a dark spotted or striped pattern. Depending on the species involved, they reach lengths of up to . Although not closely related, they have sometimes been compared to piscivorous ''

Rhamphochromis ''Rhamphochromis'' is a genus of East African haplochromine cichlids endemic to the Lake Malawi basin, also including Lake Malombe, Lake Chilingali, Chia Lagoon and upper Shire River.Genner; Nichols; Carvalho; Robinson; Shaw; Smith; and Turner ( ...

'' cichlids of

Lake Malawi Lake Malawi, also known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Lago Niassa in Mozambique, () is an African Great Lakes, African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the East African Rift system, located between Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. It is ...

.Lindqvist, O.V.; H. Mölsä; K. Solonen; J. Sarvala, editors (1999). From Limnology to Fisheries: Lake Tanganyika and Other Large Lakes. Pp. 213—214. Springer.

Species

There are currently seven recognized species in this genus: * ''

Bathybates fasciatus ''Bathybates fasciatus'' is a species of fish in the family Cichlidae. It 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 ...

'' Boulenger, 1901 * ''

Bathybates ferox ''Bathybates ferox'' is a species of fish in the family Cichlidae. It is found in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, and Zambia. Its natural habitat is Lake Tanganyika where it lives in shallow water and is exclusively pisci ...

'' Boulenger, 1898 * ''

Bathybates graueri ''Bathybates graueri'' is a species of fish in the family Cichlidae. It is endemic to Lake Tanganyika where it forms schools and feeds mainly on clupeids. The specific name of this fish honours the Austrian explorer and zoologist Rudolf Grauer ( ...

Steindachner Franz Steindachner (11 November 1834 in Vienna – 10 December 1919 in Vienna) was an Austrian zoologist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist. He published over 200 papers on fishes and over 50 papers on reptiles and amphibians. Steindachner descri ...

, 1911 * ''

Bathybates hornii ''Bathybates hornii'' is a species of fish in the family Cichlidae. It is endemic to Lake Tanganyika where it forms schools and feeds mainly on clupeids. This species is apparently rather rare. It is little known and it is normally recorded fro ...

, 1911 * ''

Bathybates leo ''Bathybates leo'' is a species of fish in the family Cichlidae. It 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 b ...

Poll Poll, polled, or polling may refer to: Forms of voting and counting * Poll, a formal election ** Election verification exit poll, a survey taken to verify election counts ** Polling, voting to make decisions or determine opinions ** Polling pla ...

, 1956 * ''

Bathybates minor ''Bathybates minor'' is a species of fish in the family Cichlidae. It is endemic to Lake Tanganyika where it forms schools and feeds mainly on clupeids, mostly '' Stolothrissa tanganicae''. References minor Minor may refer to: Common mea ...

'' Boulenger, 1906 * ''

Bathybates vittatus ''Bathybates vittatus'' is a species of fish in the family Cichlidae. It 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 l ...

'' Boulenger, 1914

References

Bathybatini * Cichlid genera Taxa named by George Albert Boulenger {{Pseudocrenilabrinae-stub