''Heterochromis'' is a genus of

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 ...

fish in the order

Perciformes Perciformes (), also called the Acanthopteri, is an order or superorder of ray-finned fish in the clade Percomorpha. ''Perciformes'' means " perch-like". Among the well-known members of this group are perches and darters ( Percidae), and als ...

. It is the only genus of the subfamily Heterochromidinae, and contains a single species, ''Heterochromis multidens'', which 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 ...

to the

Congo River Basin The Congo River, formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second-longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the third-largest river in the world list of rivers by discharge, by discharge volume, following the Amazon Ri ...

Central Africa Central Africa (French language, French: ''Afrique centrale''; Spanish language, Spanish: ''África central''; Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''África Central'') is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries accordin ...

. The relationships of ''Heterochromis'' to other cichlids have long been controversial, with several morphological features suggesting that it is more closely related to American cichlids than to other African species.Kullander SO (1998) A phylogeny and classification of the South American Cichlidae (Teleostei: Perciformes). Pp. 461-498 in Malabarba, L., et al. (eds), Phylogeny and Classification of Neotropical Fishes, Porto Alegre. Molecular studies have given contradictory results. The most comprehensive analysis done to date found more support for relationship to African cichlids, but could not conclusively reject a relationship to the American clade. It can reach a total length of . This species is probably a substrate spawner and in older males a hump may develop on the head.

References

* Cichlid fish of Africa Fish described in 1900 Monotypic ray-finned fish genera Monotypic freshwater fish genera Cichlid genera Taxa named by Charles Tate Regan Cichlidae {{cichlidae-stub