Endemic to Lake Malawi with a patchy distribution,
probably restricted to the southern part of the lake.
Typical adult size:
Up to about 12 cm standard length,
approximately 15 cm total length.
Diet:
Primarily sand and pennate diatoms,
with benthic crustaceans occurring occasionally
but not forming a major dietary component.
Special notes:
Evaluated as Data Deficient (DD).
Recorded fishery catches declined by more than 70%
in the southern part of Lake Malawi during the 1990s.
The species was not recorded in survey trawls
conducted in 2007 and 2016.
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