Haplochromis piceatus Greenwood & Gee, 1969

Open encyclopedia reference

Haplochromis piceatus is a species of cichlid fish endemic to Lake Victoria in East Africa. Although listed as vulnerable by the IUCN, since 2005, surveys have failed to find them in their home lake and they are possibly extinct in the wild. Captive "safety populations" are maintained at several public aquariums.

This species can reach a standard length of 9 cm (3.5 in). Males are bluish-black with orange fins and females are grayish. The species generally resembles H. cinereus and H. macrops, also from Lake Victoria, but they differs in having a longer jaw and a higher gill raker count. In the wild they are typically found over muddy bottoms at depths of about 14–18 m (46–59 ft) where they feed on zooplankton and insect larvae, but in captivity they will eat a wide range of standard aquarium fish food.

Wikipedia contributors, Haplochromis piceatus; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T22:44:04.840299+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Haplochromis piceatus Greenwood & Gee, 1969

Name authority

Greenwood & Gee, 1969

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Teleostei

Order

Cichliformes

Family

Cichlidae

Genus

Haplochromis

Extinction status

Not supplied by this source

Source habitat flags: Marine: no · Freshwater: yes · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. gigaclassActinopterygii
8. superclassActinopteri
9. classTeleostei
10. orderCichliformes
11. familyCichlidae Bonaparte, 1835
12. subfamilyPseudocrenilabrinae Fowler, 1934
13. genusHaplochromis Hilgendorf, 1888
14. speciesHaplochromis piceatus Greenwood & Gee, 1969

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Haplochromis. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 1,355 records assigned to Cichlidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. Greenwood, P. H., & Gee, J. M. (1969). A revision of the Lake Victoria Haplochromis species (Pisces, Cichlidae). Part VII. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Zoology, 18 (1): 1–65. [Reprinted in Greenwood 1981:371–433 [ref. 32134].]. https://doi.org/10.5962/p.314180 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:3JLYD. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.