''Cyprichromis leptosoma'' is a

mouthbrooding Mouthbrooding, also known as oral incubation and buccal incubation, is the care given by some groups of animals to their offspring by holding them in the mouth of the parent for extended periods of time. Although mouthbrooding is performed by a va ...

species of

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

in the family

Cichlidae 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 ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

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 Zambia and Tanzania. It seems quite common within its range and faces no particular threats, so the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

has assessed its conservation status as being of

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

Description

It is a streamlined fish with a silvery to blue body color. It grows to about 3 in (8 cm) in length. The males have either yellow or blue tails. The mouth is protrusible and forms a suction tube which is used for sucking in pelagic

zooplankton Zooplankton are the heterotrophic component of the planktonic community (the " zoo-" prefix comes from ), having to consume other organisms to thrive. Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents. Consequent ...

Ecology

''C. leptosoma'', like other fish in its

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 ...

, has an unusual breeding strategy. Males form a three-dimensional lek in mid-water. Females decide which males they want to mate with. If a female chooses to mate with a particular male, they will release an

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...

, which the male

fertilize Fertilisation or fertilization (see spelling differences), also known as generative fertilisation, syngamy and impregnation, is the fusion of gametes to give rise to a zygote and initiate its development into a new individual organism or off ...

s in midwater. The female catches the egg in her mouth without the egg hitting the ground. The female protects and broods the eggs in her mouth until the fry hatch and are able to swim on their own. This takes about three weeks. At that point, the female releases the eggs into a rocky area for the fry's protection, and leaves them there on their own. ''C. leptosoma'' is a schooling species that lives in deep water. It is subject to several

predator Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common List of feeding behaviours, feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation ...

s within Lake Tanganyika. The most prominent is '' Cyphotilapia frontosa'', which lives in deep water most of the time, but comes up to feed on ''C. leptosoma'' primarily at dawn.

Distribution

''C. leptosoma'' is endemic to Lake Tanganyika from the southern part in Zambia and along the eastern shoreline into Tanzania.

Description

Ecology

Distribution

References

Further reading