Nanochromis transvestitus Stewart & Roberts, 1984

Open encyclopedia reference

Nanochromis transvestitus is a sexually dimorphic cichlid endemic to Lake Mai-Ndombe in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where they live at a depth of around 1 metre (3.3 ft). It feeds on small benthic invertebrates. This species reaches a length of 3.4 centimetres (1.3 in) SL. Unusually for cichlids, it is the female, not the male, that is the most colourful. The female has a vertical black and white banding on her anal and caudal fins, with a bright red abdomen. The male, by contrast, is grayish in colour. Like many cichlids, the male does, however, have longer anal and caudal fins. The fish are egg layers and make a nest in the substrate in which to lay their eggs. This species is particularly threatened by the practice of using mosquito netting to catch fish out of the lake as material with holes that small catches every species of fish in the lake regardless of size.

Wikipedia contributors, Nanochromis transvestitus; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T23:16:50.045895+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Nanochromis transvestitus Stewart & Roberts, 1984

Name authority

Stewart & Roberts, 1984

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Teleostei

Order

Cichliformes

Family

Cichlidae

Genus

Nanochromis

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. genusNanochromis Pellegrin, 1904
14. speciesNanochromis transvestitus Stewart & Roberts, 1984

Close classified relatives

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

Browse 1,355 records assigned to Cichlidae.

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. Stewart, D. J., & Roberts, T. R. (1984). A new species of dwarf cichlid fish with reversed sexual dichromatism from lac Mai-ndombe, Zaïre. Copeia, 1984 (1): 82–86. https://doi.org/10.2307/1445037 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:45MW7. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.