'' Copadichromis azureus'', one of the utaka of Lake Malawi in Africa Utaka is the term used for open water-dwelling

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 ...

s found in

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 ...

, the most diverse source of cichlids in the world of aquaria.FAO Fishery Country Profile – THE REPUBLIC OF MALAWI
/ref> Among others, they comprise all the members of the genera '' Copadichromis'' and '' Mchenga''. They are the opposite niche from the

mbuna Mbuna (pronounced Mmm-boo - nah ) is the common name for a large group of African cichlids from Lake Malawi, and are members of the haplochromine family. The name ''mbuna'' means "rockfish" in the language of the Tonga people of Malawi.Loiselle ...

, the more common type of Malawi cichlid that dwells among rocks along the lake's fringes and bottom. Unlike mbuna, which are generally colorful from birth, utaka tend to be very neutral in color -- mostly greys -- until they reach adulthood, because their free-swimming nature leaves them more vulnerable to predation. They are highly sexually dimorphic; the females of the genre tend to remain bland in coloration, while the males often become spectacularly colorful, leading to common names like " peacock cichlid."

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See also