Tilapia rendalli, an adult photographed in Malawi. This important food fish is known to English-speaking southern Africans as the Redbreast Tilapia. It is known generically as Chambo in Malawi. According to FishBase (see the species account there), T. rendalli attains a total length of fully 45 cm (17.7 inches) and a weight of 2.5 kg (5.5 pounds)! It is widely distributed in western, central, and southern Africa. Its diet consists chiefly of higher aquatic plants. Among all cichlids found in Lake Malawi, it is unique in being the only one that is not a maternal mouthbrooder. Instead, the eggs and subsequent young are guarded on a rock or in a crater by both parents (Turner, 1996). Photo copyright © 1997 by M. K. Oliver.