Introduction

Twisting down the two arms of the great rift valley are the oldest, largest and deepest lakes in the world. These include the three largest lakes in Africa, Malawi, Tanganyika and Victoria.

Cichlids from the Great Lakes

Haplochromines

Malawi cichlids are seperated into two main groups, Haplochromines and Tilapiines. Haplochromines are then divided into two sub groups or genus, Haplochromis and Mbuna. These two genus are then seperated into species. Haplochromis is a ray-finned fish Genus in the family cichlidae. Continue Reading

Mbuna

Mbuna (pronounced mboo-na) is the common name for a large group of African cichlids from lake Malawi. The name Mbuna means "rockfish" in the language of the Tonga people of Malawi. As the name implies, Mbuna are the cichilds that live among piles of rocks, as opposed to the Utaka. Continue Reading

Tilapiines

The Tilapiines is a tribe within the family cichlidae commonly known as Tilapiine cichlids. Most of the taxa herein are called "tilapias", a diverse and economically important group containing the genera Oreochromis, Sarotherodon and Tilapia. A number of smaller genera, such as Alcolapia. Continue Reading

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