Photo d: Maylandia mbenjii,
"normal" male, and photo e: M. mbenjii, OB male, both
photographed underwater at Mbenji Island to which this form is endemic.
This species was first known from the work of Ribbink et al. (1983),
who referred to it as Pseudotropheus zebra "mbenji"; it
was recently given a formal name by Stauffer et al. (1997).
Like M. greshakei, normal males
of M. mbenjii are pale blue with faint vertical bars and a
reddish dorsal fin. Stauffer et al. distinguish
the two species by very slight differences in the means of several head
and body proportions and counts (all with overlapping ranges).
Photos from Plate 2d and 2e of Ribbink
et al., 1983; reproduced by permission of the
Zoological Society of Southern Africa.
Last Update: 1 June 2008
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