Cyphotilapia frontosa

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Population

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

Conservation Actions

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	ACTINOPTERYGII	PERCIFORMES	CICHLIDAE

Scientific Name:

Cyphotilapia frontosa

Species Authority:

(Boulenger, 1906)

Common Name/s:

English

–

Humphead Cichlid

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:	Least Concern ver 3.1
Year Published:	2006
Assessor/s:	Bigirimana, C.
Reviewer/s:	Snoeks, J. (Freshwater Fish Red List Authority) & Darwall, W. (Freshwater Biodiversity Assessment Programme)
Contributor/s:
Justification: Widespread distribution throughout Lake Tanganyika with no major widespread threats identified.

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	Endemic to Lake Tanganyika. Widespread throughout the lake.
Countries:	Native: Burundi; Congo, The Democratic Republic of the; Tanzania, United Republic of; Zambia
Range Map:	Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population:	No information available.
Population Trend:	Unknown

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	Cyphotilapia frontosa prefers a rocky bottom habitat extending into deep water. It is a generalized predator on fish and macro-invertbrates. Fragments of mollusc shells have also been found in the gut. Gill net catches show that Cyphotilapia frontosa is most abundant between 60–120 m (Pearce 1958). However, large schools of up to about 1,000 individuals have been observed underwater by Brichard (1978) at 30 to 40 m depth. Individual size seems to increase with depth, ranging commonly between 250 and 300 mm, making this species one of the larger rock dwellers.
Systems:	Freshwater

Habitat and Ecology:

Cyphotilapia frontosa prefers a rocky bottom habitat extending into deep water. It is a generalized predator on fish and macro-invertbrates. Fragments of mollusc shells have also been found in the gut. Gill net catches show that Cyphotilapia frontosa is most abundant between 60–120 m (Pearce 1958). However, large schools of up to about 1,000 individuals have been observed underwater by Brichard (1978) at 30 to 40 m depth. Individual size seems to increase with depth, ranging commonly between 250 and 300 mm, making this species one of the larger rock dwellers.

Systems:

Freshwater

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	Sedimentation, and over-exploitation for the aquarium trade. A specific threat in Burundi is the road construction from Bujumbura to Rumonge, which results in increased sedimentation, deforestation, water pollution, and risk of landslides.

Major Threat(s):

Sedimentation, and over-exploitation for the aquarium trade. A specific threat in Burundi is the road construction from Bujumbura to Rumonge, which results in increased sedimentation, deforestation, water pollution, and risk of landslides.

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:	The species is not protected by any specific legislation.

Conservation Actions:

The species is not protected by any specific legislation.

Citation:	Bigirimana, C. 2006. Cyphotilapia frontosa. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 26 May 2013.
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