Classification: Captive maintenance, Madagascar.
The male Lamena nourissati, the main guardian of eggs and larvae. Photo by Patrick de Rham.
As most readers of Cichlid News already know, lamena is the native name for a new and beautiful cichlid from Madagascar. First collected by Jean-Claude Nourissat and myself (as juveniles in October, 1991 and then as adults in October, 1992) in the vicinity of Mandritsara, a town in the north central part of the island. At the present time the species is known only from restricted stretches of the Mangarahara River and its rocky, clearwater tributary, the Ambomboa River. Lamena, which translates as "red one" in Malagasy, is a rheophilic species related to the genus Paretroplus. In my opinion, the new species is sufficiently distinct from all known members of Paretroplus to warrant the creation of a new generic taxon; it is anticipated that the formal description of the lamena will appear soon in a scientific journal.
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