Checklist of The Noncichlid Fishes of Lake Malawi

Aethiomastacembelus shiranus, photo © 1999 by M. K. Oliver

Aethiomastacembelus shiranus.
Photo copyright © 1999 by M. K. Oliver.

Checklist of the Noncichlid Fishes of Lake Malawi

Listed below are all the fishes other than Cichlidae that are known to occur in Lake Malawi, or that have been claimed to occur there. Follow the links in the family table to jump to each family's list of genera and species. In the list, there are separate links to a page about each species (usually illustrated), and to the bibliographic citation of the original taxonomic description.

As with the cichlids, here too the list includes fishes found in the lower parts of rivers and streams that flow into the lake. It also includes species found in swamps that fringe parts of the lakeshore. Some swamp fishes have been observed in sheltered, vegetated sections of the main lake (e.g., Barbus innocens; Jackson, 1961: 550). Moreover, Oliver & McKaye (1982) showed that a diverse assemblage of swamp-dwelling fishes is associated with the "floating islands" of swamp vegetation that commonly drift around the Lake's southwest arm. This blurs the distinction in habitats between the fishes of the lakeshore swamps and those of the Lake proper.

None of the twelve families is endemic to Lake Malawi, but two of the genera (the cyprinid Engraulicypris and the clariid Bathyclarias) and some of the species are endemic. For each genus and species, therefore, endemicity is indicated. Family table

The Noncichlid Fish Families of Lake Malawi

Lungfishes	Mormyrids	Characins	Minnows	Catfishes	Killifishes	True Eels	Spiny Eels
Protopteridae	Mormyridae	Alestiidae	Cyprinidae	Amphiliidae Bagridae Clariidae Mochokidae	Aplocheilidae Poeciliidae	Anguillidae	Mastacembelidae

Top

Family Protopteridae: African lungfishes

Protopterus Owen, 1839 — Nonendemic

Protopterus annectens brieni Poll, 1961 — Nonendemic (introduced)

Return to family list

Family Mormyridae: Elephant noses, Snout fishes

Hippopotamyrus Pappenheim, 1906 — Nonendemic

Hippopotamyrus discorhynchus (Peters, 1852) — Nonendemic

Marcusenius Gill, 1862 — Nonendemic

Marcusenius nyasensis (Worthington, 1933) — Endemic
Valid species according to FishBase, but synonymized with the widely distributed M. livingstonii (Boulenger, 1899b) by Tweddle & Willoughby (1982)

Mormyrops Müller, 1843 — Nonendemic

Mormyrops anguilloides (Linnaeus, 1758) — Type species — Nonendemic
Synonym: Mormyrops deliciosus (Leach, 1818)

Mormyrus Linnaeus, 1758 — Nonendemic

Mormyrus longirostris Peters, 1852 — Nonendemic

Petrocephalus Marcusen, 1854 — Nonendemic

Petrocephalus catostoma (Günther, 1866) — Nonendemic

Pollimyrus Taverne, 1971 — Nonendemic

Pollimyrus castelnaui (Boulenger, 1911) — Nonendemic

Return to family list

Family Alestiidae: African Tetras or Characins

Brycinus Valenciennes, 1849 — Nonendemic

Brycinus imberi (Peters, 1852) — Nonendemic

Hemigrammopetersius Pellegrin, 1926 — Nonendemic

Hemigrammopetersius barnardi (Herre, 1936) — Nonendemic

Return to family list

Family Cyprinidae: Minnows, Barbs

Barbus Cuvier & Cloquet, 1816 — Nonendemic

Barbus arcislongae Keilhack, 1908 — Endemic
Barbus bifrenatus Fowler, 1935 — Nonendemic
Barbus eurystomus Keilhack, 1908 — Nonendemic (Treated as Labeobarbus brevicauda by Snoeks, 2004b, but FishBase considers brevicauda a junior synonym of eurystomus)
Barbus eutaenia Boulenger, 1904 — Nonendemic
Barbus innocens Pfeffer, 1896 — Nonendemic
Barbus johnstonii Boulenger, 1907 — Nonendemic (Treated as Labeobarbus johnstonii by Snoeks, 2004b)
Synonyms: B. nyassae Boulenger, 1907; B. njassae Keilhack, 1908; B. intermedius latirostris Keilhack, 1908; B. globiceps Worthington, 1933; Varicorhinus nyasensis Worthington, 1933
Barbus litamba Keilhack, 1908 — Endemic (Treated as Labeobarbus litamba by Snoeks, 2004b)
Synonym: B. rhoadesii Boulenger, 1908
Barbus macrotaenia Worthington, 1933 — Nonendemic

Barbus paludinosus Peters, 1852 — Nonendemic
Barbus radiatus Peters, 1854 — Nonendemic
Synonyms: B. bangwelensis Boulenger, 1905; B. rogersi Boulenger, 1911
Barbus trimaculatus Peters, 1852 — Nonendemic

Engraulicypris Günther, 1894 — Endemic

Engraulicypris sardella (Günther, 1868) — Endemic
Synonym: E. pinguis Günther, 1894

Labeo Cuvier, 1816 — Nonendemic

Labeo altivelis Peters, 1852 — Nonendemic
Labeo cylindricus Peters, 1868 — Nonendemic
Labeo mesops Günther, 1868 — Nonendemic
Labeo worthingtoni Fowler, 1958 — Endemic
(Replacement name for L. intermedius Worthington, 1933, not L. intermedius Nichols & Griscom, 1917. Reid (1985) recognizes L. worthingtoni as a valid species.)

Opsaridium Peters, 1854 — Nonendemic

Opsaridium microcephalum (Günther, 1864) — Endemic
Opsaridium microlepis (Günther, 1864) — Endemic
Opsaridium tweddleorum Skelton, 1996 — Nonendemic

Return to family list

Family Amphiliidae: Mountain catfishes

Zaireichthys Roberts, 1967 — Nonendemic

Zaireichthys cf. rotundiceps (Hilgendorf, 1905) — Nonendemic? (status depends on resolution of its taxonomy; previously thought to be a species of Leptoglanis)

Return to family list

Family Bagridae: Bagrid catfishes

Bagrus Bosc, 1816 — Nonendemic

Bagrus meridionalis Günther, 1894 — Endemic

Return to family list

Family Clariidae: Air-breathing catfishes

Bathyclarias Jackson, 1959 — Endemic

Note: Bathyclarias was synonymized with the similarly adapted deep-water Lake Tanganyika clariid genus, Dinotopterus, by Greenwood (1961). Recently, Anseaume & Teugels (1999) resurrected Bathyclarias as a valid genus, arguing convincingly that the similarities with Dinotopterus are due to convergence, like those between the cichlids Pseudotropheus (L. Malawi) and Tropheus (L. Tanganyika).