''Protomelas'' is a

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 ...

haplochromine __NOTOC__ The haplochromine cichlids are a tribe of cichlids in subfamily Pseudocrenilabrinae called Haplochromini. This group includes the type genus ('' Haplochromis'') plus a number of closely related genera such as ''Aulonocara'', ''Astatoti ...

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

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the histori ...

. The genus is part of the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confl ...

and have maternal

mouthbrood 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 ...

ing and

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most an ...

typical of this group. Popular in the aquarium hobby, ''Protomelas''

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

are sold under a variety of trade names (e.g.
Taiwan Reef CichlidRed Empress Cichlid
.

Species

There are currently 16 recognized species in this genus: * '' Protomelas annectens'' (

Regan The family name Regan, along with its cognates O'Regan, O Regan, Reagan, and O'Reagan, is an Anglicized form of the Irish surname Ó Riagáin or Ó Ríogáin, from Ua Riagáin. The meaning is likely to have originated in ancient Gaelic ''ri' ...

, 1922) * '' Protomelas dejunctus'' Stauffer, 1993 (fire blue hap) * '' Protomelas fenestratus'' ( Trewavas, 1935) (fenestratus hap) * '' Protomelas insignis'' ( Trewavas, 1935) (one-and-a-half-stripe hap) * '' Protomelas kirkii'' ( Günther, 1894) *'' Protomelas krampus'' * '' Protomelas labridens'' ( Trewavas, 1935) * '' Protomelas macrodon'' Eccles, 1989 * '' Protomelas marginatus'' ( Trewavas, 1935) * '' Protomelas pleurotaenia'' ( Boulenger, 1901) * '' Protomelas similis'' (

, 1922) * '' Protomelas spilonotus'' ( Trewavas, 1935) * '' Protomelas spilopterus'' ( Trewavas, 1935) * '' Protomelas taeniolatus'' ( Trewavas, 1935) (red empress
spindle hap
* '' Protomelas triaenodon'' ( Trewavas, 1935) * '' Protomelas virgatus'' ( Trewavas, 1935)

References

Haplochromini * Cichlid genera Taxa named by Ethelwynn Trewavas {{Cichlidae-stub