Maylandia pyrsonotos, photographed underwater at Nakantenga Island in the Maleri Islands group, Malawi. This is the species informally known under the name Pseudotropheus zebra "red dorsal."
According to
Stauffer et al. (1997),
M. pyrsonotos is one of three species having a blue ground color,
black vertical bars, and a reddish dorsal fin (the others being
M. emmiltos and
M. sandaracinos.) M. pyrsonotos
is the only one in which the black vertical bars extend into the basal
portion of the dorsal fin. (Actually, Stauffer et al. discuss a fourth
species with blue ground color, black vertical bars, and orange dorsal
fin — M. thapsinogen from Eccles
Reef — but that species may
be recognized by having a yellow chin or gular area.)
Photo from Plate 1j of
Ribbink et al., 1983, who first
recognized that this was a distinct species;
reproduced by permission of the
Zoological Society of Southern Africa.
| Last Update: 1 June 2008
Web Author: M. K. Oliver, Ph.D. Copyright © 1997-2021 by M. K. Oliver, Ph.D. - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED |