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Vertical distributions of two herbivorous cichlid fishes of the genus Tropheus in Lake Tanganyika , Africa
Author(s) -
Kohda M.,
Yanagisawa Y.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
ecology of freshwater fish
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.667
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1600-0633
pISSN - 0906-6691
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0633.1992.tb00078.x
Subject(s) - cichlid , dominance (genetics) , herbivore , ecology , interspecific competition , shore , biology , geography , fish <actinopterygii> , fishery , biochemistry , gene
The vertical distributions of two herbivorous cichlid fishes, Tropheus moorii and Tropheus duboisi , were studied on the rocky slope at Luhanga and Bemba, 12 km apart, in Lake Tanganyika, Zaire, Africa. At Luhanga, where T duboisi were not present, T. moorii ranged from the shoreline to a site 30 m deep. At Bemba, T moorii occupied areas less than 18 m and T duboisi areas between 5 and 30 m. In the overlapping zone, 5–18 m depth, each fish held an intra‐ and interspecific feeding territory, involving size‐dependent dominance relationship between neighbors irrespective of species. We indicate that the vertical distributions of these species are restricted by competitive interactions.