Description

Dorsal spines (total): 15 - 17; Dorsal soft rays (total): 9 - 11; Anal spines: 3; Anal soft rays: 8 - 10; Vertebrae: 29 - 31. Diagnosis: Species with a piscivorous morphology; body rather deep, body depth 33.5-41.7% of standard length; interorbital area narrow, interorbital width 40.5-48.7% of head length; outer oral teeth many and small, 46-71; dominant males light grey dorsally and blue-black ventrally (Ref. 126312). Amongst piscivorous species from the Lake Edward system, H. quasimodo differs from H. latifrons, H. mentatus, H. simba, H. glaucus, and H. aquila by the combination of small vs. large outer oral teeth and a larger number of outer upper jaw teeth, 46-71 vs. 22-47; further from H. mentatus, H. rex, H. simba, H. glaucus and H. aquila by presence vs. absence of a well-defined mid-lateral band; it further differs from H. latifrons and H. mentatus by a deeper body, body depth 33.5-41.7% of standard length vs. 27.2-32.3%; further from H. rex, H. simba, and H. glaucus by a broader head, head width 42.0-48.1% of head length vs. 36.8-41.6% (Ref. 126312). It differs from H. kimondo and H. squamipinnis by a narrower interorbital area, interorbital width 40.5-48.7% of head width vs. 48.6-58.5%; further from H. kimondo by the combination of a rhomboid vs. pyriform body, a concave to weakly convex vs. convex dorsal outline of head, a gentler sloping snout, 30-40° vs. 40-50°, and dominant males light grey dorsally and blue-black ventrally vs. grey dorsally and yellow ventrally; further from H. squamipinnis by a gentler gape inclination, 20-35° vs. 30-45°; a shorter lower jaw, lower jaw length 44.2-49.6% of head length vs. 47.8-58.6%; mostly absence vs. presence of minute scales on proximal part of dorsal fin, rarely few rows of 1-4 scales present on dorsal fin in H. quasimodo; and dominant males light grey dorsally and blue-black ventrally vs. slate blue (Ref. 126312). It differs from H. falcatus by the combination of a shorter head, head length 33.9-37.2% of standard length vs. 36.6-39.6%; a longer pelvic fin, pelvic fin length 26.2-33.7% of standard length vs. 21.6-25.7%; weakly recurved vs. strongly recurved outer oral teeth; and dominant males light grey dorsally and blue-black ventrally vs. olive-green with an orange-red anterior part of flank (Ref. 126312). It differs from H. curvidens and H. pardus by a deeper cheek, cheek depth 24.8-32.9% of head length vs. 20.8-24.9%; further from H. curvidens by a deeper body, body depth 33.5-41.7% of standard length vs. 29.0-32.0%; and presence vs. absence of a well-defined mid-lateral band; further from H. pardus by a larger number of caudal peduncle scales, 17-20 vs. 16, rarely 17; a larger adult size, maximum size 165 mm standard length vs. 96 mm; and colour pattern of small specimens lees than 100 mm standard length light coloured vs. speckled to uniformly black (Ref. 126312). Small specimens of less than 90 mm standard length resemble H. schubotziellus in overall habitus and colour pattern; it differs from the holotype of H. schubotziellus by a smaller eye, eye diameter 26.2-31.8% of head length vs. 33.7%; a longer lower jaw, lower jaw length 44.2-49.6% of head length vs. 42.6%; a deeper cheek, cheek depth 23.7-32.9% of head length vs. 24.0%; outer oral teeth with no to a small minor cusps vs. a well-defined minor cusp; and inner oral teeth set in 1-2 weakly defined rows vs. 2 well-defined rows in both jaws (Ref. 126312).

Common Names

No common names available.

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Teleostei

Order: Cichliformes

Family: Cichlidae

Genus: Haplochromis

Species: Haplochromis quasimodo Vranken, Van Steenberge, Heyle, Decru & Snoeks, 2022

Climate Zone

Location

Biology

Found in offshore, benthic areas in shallow and deep waters (Ref. 126312). Based on its morphology, most probably a piscivorous species (Ref. 126312).

Habitat

pelagic