Plecodus straeleni

Plecodus straeleni is a species of cichlid fish that is endemic to Lake Tanganyika in East Africa. This species can reach a total length of 16 centimetres (6.3 in).[2]

Plecodus straeleni
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Cichliformes
Family: Cichlidae
Genus: Plecodus
Species:
P. straeleni
Binomial name
Plecodus straeleni
Poll, 1948
Synonyms
  • Perissodus straeleni (Poll, 1948)

Like all species of Plecodus, this fish is a scale-eater.[2][3] Unlike other members of its genus, it has a distinctive striped pattern and closely resembles the harmless Neolamprologus sexfasciatus. It uses this aggressive mimicry to be able to approach unsuspecting fish and rapidly take a mouthful of scales.[4] It also resembles the larger Cyphotilapia and has been recorded swimming among their schools, but this may be protective rather than aggressive mimicry.[4] Although it may attack the species it mimics, most victims are other species[4] and under some circumstances it will feed on fish eggs.[5]

The specific name honours the Belgian paleontologist and carcinologist Victor van Straelen (1889-1964) who was Director of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences.[6]

References
  1. Bigirimana, C. (2006). "Plecodus straeleni". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2006: e.T60657A12381640. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2006.RLTS.T60657A12381640.en.
  2. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2013). "Plecodus straeleni" in FishBase. April 2013 version.
  3. Takahashi; Watanabe; Nishida; and Hori (2007). Evolution of feeding specialization in Tanganyikan scale-eating cichlids: A molecular phylogenetic approach. BMC Evolutionary Biology 7: 195. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-7-195
  4. Boileau; Cortesi; Egger; Muschick; Indermaur; Theis; Büscher; and Salzburger (2015). A complex mode of aggressive mimicry in a scale-eating cichlid fish. Biol Lett. 11(9): 20150521. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2015.0521
  5. Nshombo, M. (1991). Occasional egg-eating by the scale-eater Plecodus straeleni (Cichlidae) of Lake Tanganyika. Environmental Biology of Fishes 31(2): 207–212. doi:10.1007/BF00001022
  6. Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara (25 September 2018). "Order CICHLIFORMES: Family CICHLIDAE: Subfamily PSEUDOCRENILABRINAE (p-y)". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 9 February 2019.


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