Very shallow water along Chembe Beach (Cape Maclear), at about 1 m to 2 m depth.
Breeding:
Males weakly defended a tall volcano-like sand-castle with a horizontal spawning platform; the rim had
a raised lip on one side, and the bowers lacked a circular demarcation ditch at the base.
Special notes:
Tramitichromis is characterized by a distinctive lower pharyngeal bone with long, slender teeth,
including markedly elongated anterior teeth with backward-bent tips, and by a downward-projecting
anterior blade of the pharyngeal bone. The lower gill-rakers are robust and can form a near-horizontal
grid that separates heavier sand from lighter food items during sand-sifting. In August 2006, males of
this form were rare at Chembe and it was apparently not their breeding season; it has been suggested
that it may be conspecific with Tramitichromis sp. ‘lituris yellow gular’.
Photo gallery