If you can't remember the current genus for that favorite species,
or whether "saulosi" is an Mbuna or a "Hap" (there's one in
each group, actually); if you wonder whether there's a picture naming a
cichlid's skull bones, or can't recall where you saw that photo
of Ethelwynn Trewavas — then this page is for you! First-time
searchers, please read the following paragraphs for important tips.
Alphabetical Index (individual letters, above): This
provides rapid access to the appropriate section of the
"Hap," Mbuna, tilapia, and non-cichlid checklists, where you can find the taxon's author and
year of publication, a link to the bibliographic citation of its
original description, often an illustration or two, and sometimes
a link to information elsewhere on the Web. The index also
includes taxonomic synonyms, some common names, and most of the
general subjects treated at this site.
Site Search box (above, below individual letters)
is even more flexible:
It lets you find all instances of nearly
every significant word here at "The Cichlid Fishes of Lake Malawi, Africa."
The search box accepts an asterisk as a "wild card" at the end of your entry;
for example, if unsure how to spell "Aufwuchs," you could enter auf* (with no space)
and still find this German term for the mat of algae on rocks and the
associated tiny creatures that live among it.
If you enter more than one word in the
search box, only pages containing ALL words are found. Therefore, if looking for a fish
species (such as Melanochromis auratus), it is usually safer to enter only the genus:
Melanochromis, OR the species:
auratus, not both a genus AND species—I
may assign the fish to a different genus than the one you expect.
Correct spelling is vital.
If unsure how to spell a word or name, and you get zero search results,
try other spellings (one at a time) or enter the first few letters followed by *
(with no space) as described above. Sadly, I see that visitors are often getting zero
search results for topics present in this site, because they misspelled the word.
Capitalization makes no difference in searches.
Finally, please remember that the default "Search This Entire Site" option is exactly that.
If you really want to search for information on discus, sharks, herring, etc. you will get
zero search results unless you choose the "Search The Web" option—and you would do
much better to use Google for
such [ahem!] off-topic searches.
