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Lake Chala tilapia

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Species of fish

Lake Chala tilapia
Conservation status

Critically Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Cichliformes
Family: Cichlidae
Genus: Oreochromis
Species: O. hunteri
Binomial name
Oreochromis hunteri
Günther, 1889
Synonyms
  • Sarotherodon hunteri (Günther, 1889)
  • Tilapia hunteri (Günther, 1889)

The Lake Chala tilapia (Oreochromis hunteri) is a species of cichlid fish that is endemic to Lake Chala, a small crater lake on the border of Kenya and Rombo District of Kilimanjaro Region in Tanzania. It mostly lives in relatively deep water, at depths between 20–45 m (66–148 ft). It is considered critically endangered by the IUCN, with the two primary threats being deterioration of its habitat due to siltation, and other non-native tilapia species that have been introduced to Lake Chala. Before these introductions, the Lake Chala tilapia was the only fish in Lake Chala. It is very closely related to the similar Jipe tilapia (O. jipe), another highly threatened species from the same general region of Kenya and Tanzania. The Lake Chala tilapia can reach a standard length of up to 30 cm (12 in).

The specific name hunteri honours the British zoologist Henry C. V. Hunter (1861-1934), who collected the type, and who provided notes on this species' distribution. O. hunteri is the type species of the genus Oreochromis.

References

  1. ^ Bayona, J.D.R.; Odhiambo, E.A.; Hanssens, M. (2006). "Oreochromis hunteri". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2006: e.T60634A12389528. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2006.RLTS.T60634A12389528.en.
  2. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Oreochromis hunteri". FishBase. September 2019 version.
  3. ^ Moser, F.N.; J.C. van Rijssel; B. Ngatunga; S. Mwaiko; O. Seehausen (2019). "The origin and future of an endangered crater lake endemic; phylogeography and ecology of Oreochromis hunteri and its invasive relatives". Hydrobiologia. 832 (1): 283–296. doi:10.1007/s10750-018-3780-z. S2CID 52944759.
  4. ^ Dieleman, J.; M. Muschick; W.D. Nyingi; D. Verschuren (2019). "Species integrity and origin of Oreochromis hunteri (Pisces: Cichlidae), endemic to crater Lake Chala (Kenya–Tanzania)". Hydrobiologia. 832 (1): 269–282. doi:10.1007/s10750-018-3570-7. S2CID 4591524.
  5. Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara (4 December 2018). "Order CICHLIFORMES: Family CICHLIDAE: Subfamily PSEUDOCRENILABRINAE (l-o)". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
Taxon identifiers
Oreochromis hunteri


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