Cyno Wild Shots, Can you see the difference?

[Larry Johnson]

Thought I would share a couple pictures of some Afra from this past year of diving in Lake Malawi.

Cynotilapia afra "chewere"


Cynotilapia afra "Chilumba Harbour"


Chewere fishing village is about 20 kilometers north of Chilumba Harbour.
I would like to point out that although these fish are BOTH Cynotilapia afra and at first glance they appear to be from the same location, but if you look closer they are not, and this is where a lot of confusion sets in from people who are not aquainted with the species.
I would never keep these two locations of fish in the same tank nor would I breed them together, these subtle differences is what makes the fish of this great Lake so different!
I (as a moderator on several forums) get asked a lot of ID questions and really I (all mod's) try to do our best,but when it comes down to these finer points of location differences it may sometimes be impossible.
Ask the right questions when you buy the fish and do you're home work first!

Cheers,Larry

[DJRansome]

I don't see any differences that I would rely on to make a valid ID, LOL. But I like the Chewere better. It looks slimmer and has less black.

[why_spyder]

Great shots Larry, thanks for sharing. This is definitely a good example of why ID'ing C. afra without a location is so hard to do. I'm opposite of DJ, I prefer the darker one from Chilumba Harbour - I like me some dark fish.

The only subtle differences I see are the wider, somewhat darker banding on the Chilumba. Is there any other "big" differences between them that I'm not seeing? I suppose seeing a 360 view of them in motion may help - and maybe some natural behavior of them feeding/spawning (if that is one of the differences between them).

[Jeff W]

I see a few differences more yellow mixed with blue in dorsal of the chewere, Gill covers in chewere have blue not as much black, body shape is different chewere being elongated, head shape is different chewere has more of a pointed snout. Blue from body on Chewere goes up into the dorsal fin. i would like to see what the differences are in their breeding colors. My F1 chewere would turn to almost white with black stripes. Very nice pictures for comparison.

Jeff

Wish i could make the trip some day. Guess i will just have to settle for the Philippines again next year. lol

[iwade4fish]

Leading edges of pec fins are yellow on the Chewere, blue background color bleeding into the dorsal for the Chewere, and Chilumba Harbor looks a little deeper in the body. Overall, I'm with Brian, black is back!!