Labeotropheus Trewavasae Marmalade Cat CichlidSpecies.com

Описание: This article is about the Mbuna Labeotropheus Trewavasae Marmalade Cat.

One of the biggest Mbuna Cichlid and the most interesting looking one.

You can read about it in the full article here:
https://cichlidspecies.com/lake-malaw...

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Labeotropheus Trewavasae is also known in completely blue races but the variant at Nkhata Bay is cobalt-blue and may thus be distinguished from the navy-blue L.fuelleborni at the same location.
The second color pattern present in both species is a blue body and an orange or red dorsal fin.
The third pattern consists of a yellow, orange or rusty brown coloration on the flanks, belly or dorsal part of the body.
These three color patterns are a part of the genetic variation of the two species. The basic color seems to be entirely blue as this is the color seen in almost all regions where only one of the two species is present.
The presence of one of the other two patterns seems to have originated in a random fashion. It probably helped to differentiate between the two species when they came into contact (or it became the only way to differentiate).
At each location, the process of chance expression of a pattern and the subsequent sexual selection developed into today’s checkered distribution of the various colour patterns.
The color pattern of L. trewavasae varies more abruptly between adjacent populations than that of L. fuelleborni. L. fuelleborni is able to cross sandy areas in shallow water along the shoreline.
L. trewavasae is restricted to the deeper parts of the habitat and may thus never have genetic contact with nearby populations.