Corematodus shiranus Boulenger, 1897
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
Corematodus shiranus is a species of haplochromine cichlid fish native to Lake Malawi, Lake Malombe and the upper reaches of the Shire River in East Africa. It is an aggressive mimic of the chambo cichlids (Nyasalapia, a subgenus of Oreochromis) in both color pattern and swimming mode. It is therefore able to approach unsuspecting schools of these species and rapidly take a mouthful of scales or fin. Due to overfishing, the chambo cichlid populations have drastically declined, adversely affecting C. shiranus, which was last reported in 1997 and might now be extinct.
Wikipedia contributors, Corematodus shiranus; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T19:24:16.009307+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Corematodus shiranus Boulenger, 1897
- Name authority
- Boulenger, 1897
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Cichliformes
- Family
- Cichlidae
- Genus
- Corematodus
- 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.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderCichliformes
- familyCichlidae Bonaparte, 1835
- subfamilyPseudocrenilabrinae Fowler, 1934
- genusCorematodus Boulenger, 1897
- speciesCorematodus shiranus Boulenger, 1897
Close classified relatives
No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.
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.
- Boulenger, G. A. (1897). Descriptions of new fishes from the Upper Shiré River, British Central Africa, collected by Dr. Percy Rendall, and presented to the British Museum by Sir Harry H. Johnston, K. C. B. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1896 (pt 4) (art. 2): 915–920, Pl. 47. 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:6B42H. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.