Original description as Aulonocara nyassae:
ZooBank:C951E960-BD38-4921-9D5A-C993A94C5822.
- Regan, Charles Tate. 1922. "The Cichlid Fishes of Lake Nyassa". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 1921 (pt 4) n. 36; pp. 675-727 (crc00066)
Conservation: Aulonocara nyassae is evaluated by the international union for the conservation of nature in the iucn red list of threatened species as (NT) near threatened (2018). The IUCN lists this species in their Red List but give a common name as "Emperor Cichlid". Aulonocara nyassae has never been exported and has therefore no common/trade name. I have only seen very few individuals in the lake and either they are only found at Masasa Reef when they want to breed and normally live much deeper or the species has only very small populations. I would regard it as threatened or endangered.