Original description as Tilapia cessiana:
ZooBank:3DFFF8CB-BC06-416F-BE1E-925408B4F5E2.
- Thys van den Audenaerde, Dirk F.E.. 1968. "Description of Tilapia cessiana sp. nov. with some remarks on Tilapia (Heterotilapia) buttikoferi (Hubrecht, 1881) (Pisces, Cichlidae)". Revue de Zoologie et Botanique Africaines. pp. 183-196 (crc00984)
Conservation: Heterotilapia cessiana is evaluated by the international union for the conservation of nature in the iucn red list of threatened species as (CR) critically endangered (2010).