Alcolapia alcalica, the common natron tilapia[2] or soda cichlid,[3] is an endangered species of fish in the family Cichlidae.[1] It is endemic to the hypersaline, warm Lake Natron in Ngorongoro District of Arusha Region, its drainage and the Shombole Swamps in Kenya and Tanzania.[1] This species typically has an essentially terminal (straight) mouth, but a morph with an upturned mouth is found locally in eastern Lake Natron, where it co-occurs with the normal morph. A. latilabris and A. ndalalani, the two other species in Lake Natron, both have a clearly downturned mouth.[4] Territorial males of A. alcalica have extensive blue-white spotting, and their underparts and throat can be yellow or white. Females and non-territorial males are overall sandy in colour.[5] A. alcalica reaches up to 11.6 cm (4.6 in) in total length.[2]
| Alcolapia alcalica | |
|---|---|
| |
| Territorial male | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Cichliformes |
| Family: | Cichlidae |
| Genus: | Alcolapia |
| Species: | A. alcalica
|
| Binomial name | |
| Alcolapia alcalica (Hilgendorf, 1905)
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| Synonyms | |
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References
edit- ^ a b c Bayona, J.D.R. (2006). "Alcolapia alcalicus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2006: e.T60452A12368336. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2006.RLTS.T60452A12368336.en.
- ^ a b Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Alcolapia alcalica". FishBase. October 2018 version.
- ^ "Alcolapia alcalica (HILGENDORF, 1905) Soda Cichlid". SeriouslyFish. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
- ^ Ford, A.G.P.; L. Ruber; J. Newton; K.K. Dasmahapatra; J.D. Balarin; K. Bruun; J.J. Day (2016). "Niche divergence facilitated by fine-scale ecological partitioning in a recent cichlid fish adaptive radiation". Evolution. 70 (12): 2718–2735. doi:10.1111/evo.13072. PMC 5132037.
- ^ Genner, M.J.; G.F. Turner; B.P. Ngatunga (2018). "A Guide to Tilapia Fishes of Tanzania" (PDF). Retrieved 6 November 2019.
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