Lake Chala tilapia

The Lake Chala tilapia (Oreochromis hunteri) is a species of cichlid fish that is endemic to Lake Chala, a small crater lake on the border of Kenya and Tanzania.[1][2] It mostly lives in relatively deep water, at depths between 20–45 m (66–148 ft).[3] It is considered critically endangered by the IUCN with the primary threats being deterioration of its habitat due to siltation,[1] and other non-native tilapia species that have been introduced to Lake Chala.[2][3] Before these introductions, the Lake Chala tilapia was the only fish in Lake Chala.[4] It is very closely related to the similar Jipe tilapia (O. jipe), another highly threatened species from the same general region of Kenya and Tanzania.[3][4] The Lake Chala tilapia can reach a standard length of up to 30 cm (12 in).[2]

Lake Chala tilapia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Cichliformes
Family: Cichlidae
Genus: Oreochromis
Species:
O. hunteri
Binomial name
Oreochromis hunteri
Günther, 1889
Synonyms
  • Sarotherodon hunteri (Günther, 1889)
  • Tilapia hunteri (Günther, 1889)

The specific name hunteri honours the British zoologist Henry C. V. Hunter (1861-1934) who collected the type and who provided notes in this species distribution.[5] O. hunteri is the type species of the genus Oreochromis.[3]

References
  1. Bayona, J.D.R.; Odhiambo, E.A. & Hanssens, M. (2006). "Oreochromis hunter". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2006: e.T60634A12389528. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2006.RLTS.T60634A12389528.en.
  2. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2019). "Oreochromis hunteri" in FishBase. September 2019 version.
  3. Moser, F.N.; J.C. van Rijssel; B. Ngatunga; S. Mwaiko; O. Seehausen (2019). "The origin and future of an endangered crater lake endemic; phylogeography and ecology of Oreochromis hunteri and its invasive relatives". Hydrobiologia. 832 (1): 283–296.
  4. Dieleman, J.; M. Muschick; W.D. Nyingi; D. Verschuren (2019). "Species integrity and origin of Oreochromis hunteri (Pisces: Cichlidae), endemic to crater Lake Chala (Kenya–Tanzania)". Hydrobiologia. 832 (1): 269–282.
  5. Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara (4 December 2018). "Order CICHLIFORMES: Family CICHLIDAE: Subfamily PSEUDOCRENILABRINAE (l-o)". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 4 February 2019.


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