Description

Dorsal spines (total): 17 - 19; Dorsal soft rays (total): 11 - 13; Anal spines: 3 - 4; Anal soft rays: 10 - 12; Vertebrae: 32 - 33. Diagnosis: A large bodied tilapia, with a slender body and small head and mouth; body depth 2.5-2.8 times in standard length (Ref. 4967, 118638). It can be distinguished by following characters: teeth of jaws with slender shafts in young, uniformly slender in adults; pharyngeal teeth very fine and crowded; dentigerous area with rounded lobes and short apex, its median length nearly always less than that of the blade; pectoral fin 34.3-41.2% of standard length, reaching base of anal fin; anal spines III-V (Ref. 2, 55060). Males and females are characterised by rows of blotched scales across the flanks; males have a pale blue head with dark spots, dark fins with pale spots, and orange margins to the dorsal and caudal; females and non-territorial males plainer and typically paler, and in some populations there is a more olive/yellow gular and ventral region (Ref. 118638). Caudal fin long with very definite vertical black or dark brown stripes (Ref. 55060).

Common Names

No common names available.

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Teleostei

Order: Cichliformes

Family: Cichlidae

Genus: Oreochromis

Species: Oreochromis jipe (Lowe, 1955)

Climate Zone

Location

Biology

Found in lakes and rivers (Ref. 4967). Chiefly a browser of periphyton in the lake, but additionally feeding also on bottom deposits and associated phytobenthos (Ref. 30832). A maternal mouthbrooder (Ref. 54046, 55060, 118638). Occasionally territorial (Ref. 2). It supports artisanal fisheries in lakes and dams across the Pangani catchment, with the largest fisheries in Lake Jipe and Nyumba ya Mungu (Ref. 118638). IUCN conservation status is critically endangered due to its restricted range and evidence of declining stocks between the 1970s and 2000 (Ref. 118638).

Habitat

benthopelagic