Cyphomyrus cubangoensis (Pellegrin, 1936)

This is a demersal species. It is a nocturnal shoaling species which favours large river channels with a soft bottom and fringing vegetation (Skelton 1993). Found mainly in sheltered bays, lagoons and swampy areas. It prefers deeper water to other small mormyrids but also occurs under fringing vegetation of sandy rivers. During the Zambezi flood in 2003, the species was caught in a stream overflowing from the rising main river into inland pans, and in a newly flooded field, suggesting lateral movements from the main river for breeding, stimulated by rising water levels (Tweddle et al.2004). It is a nocturnal shoaling species which, like other mormyrids, can generate a weak electric field around its body using specialized skeletal muscles, which it uses to detect small invertebrates on which it preys, and is often caught in large numbers by subsistence fishermen. It feeds on insect larvae at night (Konings 1990). Known to migrate up tributary rivers of Lake Kariba during rainy season, though it is not yet clear whether this is a breeding migration (Bell-Cross and Minshull 1988). Breeds during the rainy season; females carry up to 5,000 eggs.

Red List Category

Red List Criteria

Version

2010

Bills, R., Marshall, B., Moelants, T. & Tweddle, D.

Snoeks, J., Tweddle, D., Getahun, A., Laly, P., Paugy, D., Zaiss, R., Fishar, M.R.A & Brooks, E.

This species has a wide distribution, with no known major widespread threats. It is therefore listed as Least Concern. It has also been assessed regionally as Least Concern for central, eastern and southern Africa.