''Altolamprologus'' is a small

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

of pseudocrenilabrine

cichlid Cichlids are fish from the family Cichlidae in the order Cichliformes. Cichlids were traditionally classed in a suborder, the Labroidei, along with the wrasses ( Labridae), in the order Perciformes, but molecular studies have contradicted th ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika () is an African Great Lake. It is the second-oldest freshwater lake in the world, the second-largest by volume, and the second-deepest, in all cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. It is the world's longest freshwater lake. T ...

in eastern

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. They inhabit areas of the lake with large amounts of rock, most frequently in water two to ten metres in depth. Two formally described species comprise this genus, with perhaps one dwarf ''A. compressiceps''-like species being considered an undescribed species by some.

Species

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

Altolamprologus calvus ''Altolamprologus calvus'' is a cichlid endemic to the southern shoreline of Lake Tanganyika in eastern Africa. The species has an extremely laterally compressed body and a high dorsal fin. Males may grow to 13 cm (5 inches), while fema ...

'' ( Poll, 1978) * '' Altolamprologus compressiceps'' (

Boulenger Boulenger is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Benjamin Boulenger (born 1990), French footballer * Edward George Boulenger (1888–1946), British zoologist, director of aquarium at London Zoo * George Albert Boulenger (1858–1 ...

, 1898)

Description

They are moderately-sized Lamrologines, growing to a total length of in adult males. Their bodies are laterally compressed and remarkably high-backed; hence the scientific name which means "high '' Lamprologus''" (from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

''altus'', "high"). They are

predator Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill ...

s which feed on large

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

s and small fish, particularly

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean gro ...

s and juveniles of other cichlids.

In the aquarium

''Altolamprologus'' are hardy at the standard Lake Tanganyikan water parameters. They are not particularly well-suited for beginners due to their predatory habits however. They can be picky eaters and demand a variety of appropriate living prey to thrive, but they are also prone to gorging themselves if they like the offered food and may become too fat. They also require large tanks – at least one meter/yard in length – to show their natural behavior, and cannot be kept together with small fish or

shrimp Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are refer ...

s. They can be a challenge to breed for the novice. These fish are cave spawners and will spawn under

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta i ...

pot saucers or in large

snail A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class G ...

shells. They are a rather slow growing Lamprologine taking approximately two years to reach sexual maturity.

References

* (2007): Phylogenetic relationships of the Lake Tanganyika cichlid tribe Lamprologini: The story from mitochondrial DNA. '' Mol. Phylogenet. Evol.'' 45(2): 629–642. * (1998): ''Tanganyikan cichlids in their natural habitat''. Cichlid Press. {{Taxonbar, from=Q134438 Lamprologini * Fishkeeping Cichlid genera Taxa named by Max Poll