Jackson (1959) summarized what is known of the
ecology of B. worthingtoni:
This well-marked species is numerous and wide-spread at Nkata Bay,
Likoma Island and elsewhere over the central deep-water areas of
Lake Nyasa [Malawi], among rocks. The diet consists largely of the
Lake Crab..., the size of the crab taken varying with the size of the
fish. It occurs at all depths down to at least 40 metres, juveniles
being fairly common among rocks in very shallow water.
Konings (1990a) adds that it "...is
sometimes caught in the Chirimila nets with which natives catch Utaka."
To confirm identification using more than the enlarged maxillary barbel
bases,
B. worthingtoni can be distinguished from the other species of
Bathyclarias by possessing all of the following characters
(adapted from Greenwood, 1961: 230):
Gill rakers short, length of longest gill raker
(on outer arch) divided by length of
longest gill filament = 0.3-0.6;
Barbels rounded in cross section, smooth and simple;
Body smooth, not pitted;
Gills and suprabranchial cavity not black;
Tooth band on vomer less than 1¼ times as broad as the
premaxillary band, with fine, discrete, pointed teeth;
Maxillary barbel not reaching beyond tip of pectoral fin;
Snout length contained less than 4.6 times in head length, dorsal
outline of snout slightly rounded but head not noticeably chubby; and
Base of maxillary barbel markedly conical, swollen and fleshy;
suprabranchial organs on second and fourth gill arches greatly reduced,
branched, only a stump with no more than four branches on the fourth
arch in fishes >20 cm SL and absent in fishes <7 cm SL. The characters
in item (8) separate B. worthingtoni from
B. gigas, to which it is most similar.
