We all know of the tiny shell-dwellers of Tanganyika. But how about a bigger example with a lot more bite?
TIM SMITH Ichthyologist Tim has been involved with fish for almost 20 years, from retail to academia.
I WILL ADMIT, AS long as cichlids have been tugging at my heartstrings, those from Tanganyikan never really managed to sneak their way into my home. It wasn’t a matter of distaste or a lack of opportunity, either. While lagging behind their Malawian cousins, the ‘Tangs’ hold a solid presence in many aquatic stores.
Shell-dwellers in particular are small and endearing enough to convert most passers-by, and have been a reliable staple in my local scene for as long as I can remember.
When a fellow fishkeeper said he had brought in some unique shell-dwellers, my interest wasn’t particularly piqued. He had spawned a couple too many and said I could take a few off of his hands. I guess my time had come to dip into the Lake.
I popped on over and there, among a smattering of shells and rockwork, were my new quarry. Stepping too close, they were lost to the depths of their shells. Given a minute, their faces poked out from hiding. This was a shelldweller, alright. But it almost had… fangs? As an avid celebrant of Halloween, I was sold.
Taxonomy talk
So which shell-dweller was I dealing with, really? Besides a small handful of potentially undescribed species, three of the established species of Lepidiolamprologus can appear remarkably similar; namely, L. boulengeri, L. hecqui, and L. meeli. Even during fieldwork studies there is much apparent confusion over which species is being dealt with.
One can tease out L. boulengeri pretty quickly, since they sport attractive yellow edging to their dorsal and anal fins, whereas the other two do not (except, perhaps, in the young of some populations, but I digress). The remaining two—L. meeli and L. hecqui—are frequently confused.
Morphologically and meristically, both species are remarkably similar with strong overlaps in both categories. Allegedly, one of the tell-tale signs of a Hecq’s shell-dweller, L. hecqui, is a darker edgings to the fins, which are only much more apparent in mature fish. To further muddy things, there’s some uncertainty as to what exactly constitutes a Lepidiolamprologus hecqui. The type specimen is in poor form; a generous term since it was retrieved (and subsequently described) from the mouth of a catfish! Certainly, that’s difficult material to compare anything to.
