Golden leopard [1] , or haplochromis-leopard [1] ( lat. Nimbochromis venustus ) is a tropical freshwater fish from the family of cichlids of the order of perciform . One of 5 species endemic to Lake Malawi ( Nyasa ) of the genus Nimbochromis . A popular aquarium fish.
| Golden leopard |
Male |
| Scientific classification |
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| No rank : | Bilateral symmetrical |
| Subfamily : | Pseudocrenilabrinae |
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| International scientific name |
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Nimbochromis venustus
( Boulenger , 1908) |
| Synonyms |
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- Cyrtocara venusta ( Boulenger , 1908)
- Haplochromis simulans Regan , 1922
- Haplochromis venustus Boulenger , 1908
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| Security status |
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Least ConcernedIUCN 3.1 Least Concern : 60891 |
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The specific scientific name venustus in Latin means “beautiful”, “elegant”, “elegant”.
Content
Body length up to 25 cm, but usually does not exceed 22.5 cm. Body height is 38.1-40.9% of its length, head length 32.0-33.8%, base of dorsal fin 53.3— 57.7% of the body length. In the dorsal fin there are 16-17 hard rays and 10-12 soft, in the anal - 3 hard and 9-10 soft rays. The main color is yellow, not very contrasting, large vertically elongated brown spots, head and pectoral fins without spots are scattered over the body. In mature males, the head is green-blue.
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From left to right: 1 - female; 2 - a young individual recently caught in Lake Malawi |
Endemic to Lake Malawi ( East Africa ), in which it is widespread. It lives in water with a temperature of + 25 ... + 27 ° C and pH = 7.2–8.8 at a depth of 6 to 23 m. Benthic fish. It inhabits areas of the lake with a cave bottom; young individuals can be found in shallow water near the rocks.
It feeds on invertebrates and small fish. They watched as young individuals, partially buried in the sand, sat motionless and waited for some small fish to swim at a fairly close distance to them.
- ↑ 1 2 A systematic list of vertebrates in zoological collections on 01/01/2011 // Information digest of the Euro-Asian Regional Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Vol. 30. Mezhved. collection. scientific and scientific method. tr - M .: Moscow Zoo, 2011 .-- S. 224. - 570 p. - ISBN 978-5-904012-09-0
- Snoeks J., Manuel J. 2004. The genus Nimbochromis Eccles & Trewavas, 1989. p. 57-85. In: Snoeks J. (ed.) The cichlid diversity of Lake Malawi / Nyasa / Niassa: identification, distribution and taxonomy . Cichlid Press, El Paso, USA, 360 p. ISBN 0-9668255-8-6
- Riehl R., Baensch HA 1996. Aquarien Atlas, Band 1. 10th edition. Mergus Verlag GmBH, Melle, Germany. 992 p. ISBN 3-88244-050-3
- Maréchal C. 1991. Nimbochromis. p. 296-299. In: Daget J., Gosse J.-P., Teugels GG, Thys van den Audenaerde DFE (eds.) Check-list of the freshwater fishes of Africa (CLOFFA). ISNB, Brussels; MRAC, Tervuren; and ORSTOM, Paris. Vol. 4. ISBN 9073242037
