Mastacembelus cunningtoni

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Population

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

Conservation Actions

Bibliography

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	ACTINOPTERYGII	SYNBRANCHIFORMES	MASTACEMBELIDAE

Scientific Name:	Mastacembelus cunningtoni
Species Authority:	Boulenger, 1906
Taxonomic Notes:	Vreven (accepted) placed the African genera Caecomastacembelus and Aethiomastacembelus in synonymy with Mastacembelus.

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:	Least Concern ver 3.1
Year Assessed:	2006
Assessor/s:	Bigirimana, C. & Vreven, E.
Reviewer/s:	Snoeks, J. (Freshwater Fish Red List Authority) & Darwall, W. (Freshwater Biodiversity Assessment Programme)
Justification: Widespread species, distributed throughout Lake Tanganika and particularly common around the Rusizi delta. No widespread major threats known.

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	Endemic to Lake Tanganyika. Mastacembelus cunningtoni is especially plentiful around the Rusizi river delta.
Countries:	Native: Burundi; Congo, The Democratic Republic of the; Tanzania, United Republic of; Zambia
Range Map:	(click map to view full version)

Population [top]

Population:	A common species (Poll 1953), especially plentiful around the Ruzizi delta (Brichard 1989).
Population Trend:	Unknown

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	Inhabits the littoral zones in lake Tanganyika with rocky, sandy or muddy substrates. Diet: omnivorous, the diet includes insects, molluscs and fish. Spawning has not been observed, but it is thought to spawn in rivers. Reproduction seems to involve large congregations of adults. Pearce (1985b) reports huge spawning schools of Mastacembelus cunningtoni in a deep rocky area of the southeast arm of the lake. This species is caught at greater depth than other mastacembelids (Coulter 1991). Poll (1953) collected specimens from 6 to 100 m depth, nevertheless most of them were collected above 20 m depth and on muddy bottoms. Coulter (1966) collected specimens from 20 to 119 m depth and Lowe-Mc Connell (1975) mentioned the presence of M. cunningtoni down to 50 m. Although found in inshore habitats it is most abundant offshore (Coulter 1991). A typical sand-dweller (Brichard 1989) it is also reported as a benthic species sometimes encountered in swamp habitats (Phiri 1993).
Systems:	Freshwater

Habitat and Ecology:

Inhabits the littoral zones in lake Tanganyika with rocky, sandy or muddy substrates. Diet: omnivorous, the diet includes insects, molluscs and fish. Spawning has not been observed, but it is thought to spawn in rivers. Reproduction seems to involve large congregations of adults. Pearce (1985b) reports huge spawning schools of Mastacembelus cunningtoni in a deep rocky area of the southeast arm of the lake. This species is caught at greater depth than other mastacembelids (Coulter 1991). Poll (1953) collected specimens from 6 to 100 m depth, nevertheless most of them were collected above 20 m depth and on muddy bottoms. Coulter (1966) collected specimens from 20 to 119 m depth and Lowe-Mc Connell (1975) mentioned the presence of M. cunningtoni down to 50 m. Although found in inshore habitats it is most abundant offshore (Coulter 1991). A typical sand-dweller (Brichard 1989) it is also reported as a benthic species sometimes encountered in swamp habitats (Phiri 1993).

Systems:

Freshwater

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	Water pollution, habitat deterioration, and over-exploitation.

Major Threat(s):

Water pollution, habitat deterioration, and over-exploitation.

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:	None known.

Conservation Actions:

None known.

Bibliography [top]

	Brichard, P. 1989. Pierre Brichard's Book of Cichlids and All the Other Fishes of Lake Tanganyika. THF Publications Inc., Neptune, United States. Coulter, G.W. 1991. Lake Tanganyika and its life. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Daget, J., Gosse, J.-P. and Thys van den Audenaerde, D.F.E. (eds). 1986. Check-list of the Freshwater Fishes of Africa (CLOFFA II) ISNB, Brussels and MRAC, Tervuren, Belgium, and ORSTOM, Paris, France. IUCN. 2006. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 04 May 2006. Lowe McConnell, R.H. 1956. Observations on the biology of Tilapia (Pisces: Cichlidae) in Lake Victoria, East Africa. In: East African Fisheries Research Organisation. Suppl. Publ. no 1. Poll, M. 1953. Poissons non Cichlidae. In: Exploration Hydrobiologique du Lac Tanganika (1946–1947). Résultats scientifiques. 3(5A): 1–251. Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Brussels, Belgium.

Brichard, P. 1989. Pierre Brichard's Book of Cichlids and All the Other Fishes of Lake Tanganyika. THF Publications Inc., Neptune, United States.

Coulter, G.W. 1991. Lake Tanganyika and its life. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.

Daget, J., Gosse, J.-P. and Thys van den Audenaerde, D.F.E. (eds). 1986. Check-list of the Freshwater Fishes of Africa (CLOFFA II) ISNB, Brussels and MRAC, Tervuren, Belgium, and ORSTOM, Paris, France.

IUCN. 2006. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 04 May 2006.

Lowe McConnell, R.H. 1956. Observations on the biology of Tilapia (Pisces: Cichlidae) in Lake Victoria, East Africa. In: East African Fisheries Research Organisation. Suppl. Publ. no 1.

Poll, M. 1953. Poissons non Cichlidae. In: Exploration Hydrobiologique du Lac Tanganika (1946–1947). Résultats scientifiques. 3(5A): 1–251. Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Brussels, Belgium.

Citation:	Bigirimana, C. & Vreven, E. 2006. Mastacembelus cunningtoni. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 09 February 2012.
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