| Diagnosis: |
Dorsal spines (total): 2-2; Dorsal soft rays (total): 4-5; Anal spines: 0-0; Anal soft rays: 9-11. Diagnosis: This species is distinguished from all other members of the genus by the short snout, which is less than one third of the head length, and by its unique habitat, occupying empty snail shells in the lake (Ref. 86935).
Description: Lateral line short, reaching about to base of pelvic fins; skin minutely granular (Ref. 86935). Head broader in relation to standard length than in all other species of Zaireichthys, depressed, with narrow supra-occipital process almost as long as interorbital width and nearly reaching basal shield of first dorsal spine; snout broadly rounded, scarcely projecting beyond upper lip; eyes relatively large; mouth small, less than half head width; barbels relatively short, the maxillary reaching to about base of pectoral fin and bearing a posterior fringe for the basal third; humeral process pointed, proportionally longer than in all other species of Zaireichthys except Z. kafuensis (Ref. 86935). Dorsal fin II,4-5, base of first spine about level with end of humeral process and base of fin short; adipose fin moderately long, with posterior end almost vertical, not reaching procurrent caudal rays; caudal fin truncate or slightly emarginate, with 4-6 branched rays in the upper lobe and 5-7 in the lower, usually with a total of 11 branched rays, preceded by 14-16 procurrent rays; anal fin with 9-11, usually 10, soft rays, the first 3-5 simple; pectoral fins rounded posteriorly with 6-7 branched rays, the spine bearing 4-7 stout barbs above the fin membrane; pelvic fins short, usually ending level with origin of adipose (Ref. 86935). Premaxillary tooth patch shaped like mirror-image commas; teeth caniniform in 5-6 rows, the outer with about 6 and the inner with about 14 teeth on each side; lower jaw with 3-4 rows of 14-16 teeth on each side, the outer teeth largest (Ref. 86935).
Colouration: Almost transparent in life, with three horizontal darker blotches and with head mottled (Ref. 86935). Preserved specimens pale, with light brown marbling on nape and shoulders, a series of about ten faint brown blotches dorsally, about ten mid-lateral blotches, the posterior of which are more elongated, and darker patches above bases of pelvic fins, above anal fin and at base of caudal fin (Ref. 86935). |
| Biology: |
This species is recorded from depths of 10-30 m in the southern part and at a depth of about 20 m at Sanga in the central portion of Lake Malawi (Ref. 86935). It has been taken by trawl over the sandy substrata near Monkey Bay, where it is found in empty gastropod shells, and it is also collected in shells by divers (Ref. 86935). It is inquiline with the cichlid fish Pseudotropheus lanisticola in shells of the large gastropod Lanistes nyassanus; the co-existence of the two species in one shell is fortuitous and the catfish occupies probably the upper part of the shell which the cichlid cannot reach (Ref. 86935). Both sexes attain maturity at a standard length of about 17 mm (Ref. 86935). Mature males take up territories in shells; females may share these for some time before depositing their eggs; it appears that females leave the shells shortly after oviposition whereas the males remain in the shells, presumably to guard the brood; the small size of the buccal cavity and the narrow mouth with a width less than 2.5 egg diameters, suggests that mouth brooding is improbable (Ref. 86935). It feeds on ostracods, cladocerans, copepods, chironomid larvae and small trichopteran larvae; some diatom frustules were also observed but it is possible that these were taken fortuitously with invertebrate food items (Ref. 86935). |