The Cichlid Fishes of Lake Malawi, Africa
 

Abstract of Publication

Kocher, T.D., and K.R. McKaye. 1983. Defense of heterospecific cichlids by Cyrtocara moorii in Lake Malawi, Africa. Copeia 1983 (2): 544-547.  

Many species of animals come together to feed in multispecific aggregations, to the benefit of one or both species. The cichlid fish Cyrtocara moorii in Lake Malawi, Africa, receives benefits from a similar interspecific association. C. moorii follows individuals of several cichlid species which feed in the sandy lake bottom, plucking food from the cloud of detritus stirred up by these fish. C. moorii actively defends this resource, attacking other C. moorii, and C. annectens, a species which sometimes feeds in the same manner. This paper describes the ecology and behavior of C. moorii and C. annectens, and discusses related behaviors of the host, Lethrinops praeorbitalis, which they follow. [Brief abstract by M.K. Oliver]
 

 

 

 

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