''Plecodus straeleni'' is a species 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 that 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 East Africa. This species can reach a

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish measured f ...

of . Like all species of '' Plecodus'', this fish is a scale-eater. Unlike other members of its genus, it has a distinctive striped pattern and closely resembles the harmless '' Neolamprologus sexfasciatus''. It uses this

aggressive mimicry Aggressive mimicry is a form of mimicry in which predation, predators, parasites, or parasitoids share similar signalling theory, signals, using a harmless model, allowing them to avoid being correctly identified by their prey or host (biolog ...

to be able to approach unsuspecting fish and rapidly take a mouthful of scales.Boileau; Cortesi; Egger; Muschick; Indermaur; Theis; Büscher; and Salzburger (2015). A complex mode of aggressive mimicry in a scale-eating cichlid fish. Biol Lett. 11(9): 20150521. It also resembles the larger '' Cyphotilapia'' and has been recorded swimming among their

schools A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of ...

, but this may be protective rather than aggressive mimicry. Although it may attack the species it mimics, most victims are other species and under some circumstances it will feed on fish eggs.Nshombo, M. (1991). Occasional egg-eating by the scale-eater Plecodus straeleni (Cichlidae) of Lake Tanganyika. Environmental Biology of Fishes 31(2): 207–212. The specific name honours the Belgian

paleontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

and

carcinologist This is a list of notable carcinologists. A carcinologist is a scientist who studies crustaceans or is otherwise involved in carcinology (the science of crustaceans). References

{{Reflist, 24em Carcinologists, . Lists of zoologists, Carcino ...

Victor van Straelen (1889-1964) who was Director of the

Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences The Museum of Natural Sciences (, ; , ) is a Brussels museum dedicated to natural history. It is a part of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (; ), itself part of the institutions of the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSP ...

References

External links

Photograph
straeleni Taxa named by Max Poll Fish described in 1948 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Pseudocrenilabrinae-stub