Serranochromis thumbergi

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	ACTINOPTERYGII	PERCIFORMES	CICHLIDAE

Scientific Name:	Serranochromis thumbergi
Species Authority:	(Castelnau, 1861)
Common Name/s: English – Brownspot Largemouth, Brownspot largemouth (FB)
Synonym/s:	Chromys thumbergi Castelnau, 1861 Chromys thumbergi Castelnaui, 1861 Paratilapia robusta (non Günther, 1864) Paratilapia thumbergii (Castelnau, 1861) Pelmatochromis thumbergi (Castelnau, 1861)

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:	Least Concern     ver 3.1
Year Published:	2010
Assessor/s:	Marshall, B., Moelants, T. & Tweddle, D.
Reviewer/s:	Snoeks, J., Tweddle, D., Getahun, A., Lalèyè, P., Paugy, D., Zaiss, R., Fishar, M.R.A & Brooks, E.
Justification: Although there are localised threats, this species has a wide distribution. It is therefore listed as Least Concern. It has also been assessed regionally as Least Concern for central and southern Africa.
History:	2007 – Least Concern

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	This species is found from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Namibia and Botswana. Central Africa: Serranochromis thumbergi is known from the upper Congo River basin, from the Mweru-Luapula-Bangweulu region, from the Chambishi River and from the Upemba basin. Southern Africa: It is found in the Okavango, This species is known from upper Zambezi, Kafue, Cunene and Zambian Congo systems (Skelton 2001). In the upper Zambezi, it occurs only in the lower reaches below Sioma Falls down to Victoria Falls and is apparently absent from the extensive Barotse floodplains (Winemiller 1991, Tweddle et al. 2004), although Winemiller assigned two juveniles from the Kabompo River to this species. It was introduced into the Shashe Dam in Botswana and has been collected downstream in the Shashe River in Zimbabwe (Minshull 1987) and it might therefore occur elsewhere in the Limpopo system.
Countries:	Native: Angola; Botswana; Congo, The Democratic Republic of the; Namibia; Zambia; Zimbabwe
Range Map:	Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population:	This species has a widespread though patchy distribution, but locally common in suitable habitats.
Population Trend:	Unknown

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:

Serranochromis thumbergi is a demersal species. The habitat preferences are strongly influenced by the presence or absence of the tigerfish Hydrocynus forskahlii: if the tigerfish is absent, S. thumbergi is found in open waters and sometimes in fast-flowing rocky habitats; in areas where the tigerfish occurs, S. thumbergi is relegated to lagoons, backwaters and marshy shallow areas. It feeds on small fish, insects, crabs and snails (de Moor and Bruton 1988). This species constructs a sandscrape nest and incubates the eggs in the mouth.

Systems:

Freshwater

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):

None known.

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:

The species has some protection in reserves in southern Africa.

Bibliography [top]

Pan-Africa freshwater assessment references. Currently, full citations for references used in the Pan-Africa biodiversity assessments are unavailable on the Red List web site. These will be added to the site in 2011. We apologise for any inconvenience this causes. IUCN. 2010. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (ver. 2010.3). Available at: http://www.iucnredlist.org. (Accessed: 2 September 2010).