Zebra Mbuna

• GeneralThe female broods the eggs in her mouth for some three weeks.
• The cichlids of Lake Malawi are one of the most spectacular examples of adaptive radiation: several hundred species have arisen from a handful of ancestors in under a million years.
• The mbuna hardly ever cross the sandy stretches between rocky headlands, which isolates the populations of each reef and speeds up the emergence of new species.
• It is a maternal mouthbrooder: the female holds the eggs in her mouth for about three weeks and releases fry that are already independent.
• The colour of the males changes from one part of the lake to another: in some places their heads are dark and in others blue, over a bright blue body with up to eight blackish bars.
• The males carry spots on the anal fin that mimic eggs, a lure that forms part of the courtship.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bony fish)

Habitat and environment

The rocky inshore zone of Lake Malawi

Gestation / incubation

The female broods the eggs in her mouth for about three weeks

Sources consulted: FishBase (Froese & Pauly, eds.) · Lista Roja de la UICN (evaluación de 2018) · Seriously Fish

The pins mark the parks and dive sites where its presence is documented.