Alcolapia is a genus of small fishes in the family Cichlidae. Their native range is restricted to margins of Lake Natron and Lake Magadi, as well as similar conditions in nearby hot springs, in Kenya and Tanzania.[1] They live in waters that are warm (mostly 30–42.8 °C [86–109 °F], although occasionally down to 20 °C [68 °F]), hypersaline (salinity above 40‰) and alkaline (pH above 10).[1][2] Species from this genus have also been introduced to Lake Nakuru and Lake Elmenteita.[3] They are the only fish in their range.[1]
The different Alcolapia species differ primarily in the position of their mouth (straight, upturned or downturned) and the colors of the adult males.[1] They are fairly small fish, with the largest species reaching up to 20 cm (7.9 in) in standard length.[3] They mostly feed on algae and cyanobacteria, but also take other plant material, fish eggs, fry and remains, and insects in smaller quantities (except A. alcalica, which feed on other plant material at about the same level as algae and cyanobacteria).[1] They are maternal mouthbrooders.[4]
^ abcdeFord, A.G.P.; L. Ruber; J. Newton; K.K. Dasmahapatra; J.D. Balarin; K. Bruun; J.J. Day (2016). "Niche divergence facilitated by fine-scale ecological partitioning in a recent cichlid fish adaptive radiation". Evolution. 70 (12): 2718–2735. doi:10.1111/evo.13072. PMC 5132037. PMID 27659769.
^Ford, A.G.P.; et al. (2019). "Molecular phylogeny of Oreochromis (Cichlidae: Oreochromini) reveals mito-nuclear discordance and multiple colonisation of adverse aquatic environments" (PDF). Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 136: 215–226. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2019.04.008. PMID 30974200.
^ abFroese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2019). Species of Alcolapia in FishBase. September 2019 version.
^Genner, M.J.; G.F. Turner; B.P. Ngatunga (2018). "A Guide to Tilapia Fishes of Tanzania" (PDF). Retrieved 6 November 2019.
Alcolapia is a genus of small fishes in the family Cichlidae. Their native range is restricted to margins of Lake Natron and Lake Magadi, as well as similar...
Alcolapia alcalica, the common natron tilapia or soda cichlid, is an endangered species of fish in the family Cichlidae. It is endemic to the hypersaline...
Alcolapia grahami, the Lake Magadi tilapia or Graham's cichlid, is a vulnerable species of fish in the family Cichlidae. It is specialised to live in...
Alcolapia latilabris, the wide-lipped Natron tilapia, is a species of small fish in the family Cichlidae. It is endemic to the hypersaline, warm Lake...
Alcolapia ndalalani, the narrow-mouthed Natron tilapia, is a species of small fish in the family Cichlidae. It is endemic to the hypersaline, warm Lake...
distant from the "core" Oreochromis as they are from Alcolapia. A potential solution is to merge Alcolapia into Oreochromis, as done by Catalog of Fishes....
cichlids are the warm hypersaline lakes where the members of the genera Alcolapia and Danakilia are found. Lake Abaeded in Eritrea encompasses the entire...
cracks to produce large polygons. A single species of fish, a cichlid Alcolapia grahami, inhabits the hot, highly alkaline waters of this lake basin and...
regular breeding area. Two endemic fish species, the alkaline tilapias Alcolapia latilabris and A. ndalalani, also thrive in the waters at the edges of...
cormorants. Despite the tepid and alkaline waters, a diminutive fish, Alcolapia grahami has flourished after being introduced in the early 1960s. The...
shrimp Artemia and the copepod Paradiaptomus africanus) and fish (e.g. Alcolapia), are also found in many of the less extreme soda lakes, adapted to the...
Stiassny, de Marchi & Lamboj, 2010 Danakilia franchettii (Vinciguerra, 1931) Alcolapia – another cichlid genus from warm, saline lakes in Africa. Giorgio Chiozzi...
cichlids from Lakes Magadi and Natron, now regarded as members of the genus Alcolapia. In the 1980s, Ethelwynn Trewavas separated them into separate subgenera...
Similar conditions can be observed in the modern-day Lake Magadi, home to Alcolapia grahami. The rhythmic nature of the shale and clay deposits of Member...
believed. The following genera are classified within the Oreochromini: Alcolapia Thys van den Audenaerde, 1969 Danakilia Thys van den Audenaerde, 1969...
and one subpopulation in the order Perciformes assessed as endangered. Alcolapia alcalicus Amphilophus margaritifer Benitochromis conjunctus Benitochromis...
magadiensis n. sp. (Monogenea, Gyrodactylidae) parasitising the gills of Alcolapia grahami (Perciformes, Cichlidae), a fish inhabiting the extreme environment...
1981 Triglachromis Poll & Thys van den Audenaerde, 1974 Oreochromini Alcolapia Thys van den Audenaerde, 1969 Danakilia Thys van den Audenaerde, 1969...
such as lungfish species. CPS III has been described in cichlids of the Alcolapia genus, lungfishes, the gulf toadfish Opsanus beta, the rainbow trout Oncorhyncus...
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