''Pseudocrenilabrus pyrrhocaudalis'', the fire-tailed pseudocrenilabrus, is a newly described species of small

mouth-brooding 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 ...

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 ...

from

Lake Mweru Lake Mweru (also spelled ''Mwelu'', ''Mwero'') is a freshwater lake on the longest arm of Africa's second-longest river, the Congo. Located on the border between Zambia and Democratic Republic of the Congo, it makes up of the total length of the ...

in south west central Africa. Its

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

is descriptive of its bright flame coloured orange tail in the breeding males which distinguishes it from the more widespread ''

Pseudocrenilabrus philander ''Pseudocrenilabrus philander'' or the southern mouth-brooder is a small species of haplochromine cichlid found in southern and central Africa. It was first described by the German-Dutch zoologist Max Carl Wilhelm Weber in 1897. Distribution Sou ...

''.

Description

In ''Pseudocrenilabrus pyrrhocaudalis'' the males have a distinctive colour pattern which typically shows some orange colour on the

anal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as s ...

and on the

caudal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as s ...

that brightens to orange-red when breeding, this bright colour extends over the parts of anal and caudal fins nearest the body and on to the caudal peduncle. A number of other characteristics distinguish ''P. pyrrhocaudalis'' from its

sympatric In biology, two related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter one another. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct species s ...

congener ''Pseudocrenilabrus philander'', among these are the white

pelvic fin Pelvic fins or ventral fins are paired fins located on the ventral surface of fish. The paired pelvic fins are homologous to the hindlimbs of tetrapods. Structure and function Structure In actinopterygians, the pelvic fin consists of two e ...

s, an orange rear portion of the

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through c ...

, thinner lips and a larger eye. The maximum length is 7.3 cm

standard length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology. Overall length * Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish ...

Distribution

''Pseudocrenilabrus pyrrhocaudalis'' is known only from, and may be

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 ...

to Lake Mweru in the

Luapula The Luapula River is a section of Africa's second-longest river, the Congo. It is a transnational river forming for nearly all its length part of the border between Zambia and the DR Congo. It joins Lake Bangweulu (wholly in Zambia) to Lake Mwe ...

- Congo river system on the borders between the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

and

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are ...

.Katongo, C., Seehausen, O. & Snoeks, J. (2017): A new species of ''Pseudocrenilabrus'' (Perciformes: Cichlidae) from Lake Mweru in the Upper Congo River System. ''Zootaxa, 4237 (1): 181–190.''

Biology

''Pseudocrenilabrus pyrrhocaudalis'' lives sympatrically in Lake Mweru with ''P. philander'' with the latter species preferring the shallow waters in the inshore areas of the lake and ''P. pyrrhocaudalis'' being caught in seine nets in deeper water near open beaches. Molecular studies indicate that there are at least three distinct clades of ''

Pseudocrenilabrus ''Pseudocrenilabrus'' is a genus of fish in the family Cichlidae, commonly known as the mouthbrooders endemic to rivers and lakes in Central and Eastern Africa. Species There are currently 4 recognized species in this genus: * '' Pseudocrenilab ...

'' cichlids in this area of Africa, suggesting that there has been a centre of diversity for these fish in this region.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q28854446 Taxa named by Cyprian Katongo Taxa named by Ole Seehausen Taxa named by Jos Snoeks Fish described in 2017 pyrrhocaudalis Fish of Africa