Mastacembelus tanganicae

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Population

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

Conservation Actions

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	ACTINOPTERYGII	SYNBRANCHIFORMES	MASTACEMBELIDAE

Scientific Name:	Mastacembelus tanganicae
Species Authority:	Günther, 1893
Taxonomic Notes:	Vreven (accepted) placed the African genera Caecomastacembelus and Aethiomastacembelus in synonymy with Mastacembelus.

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:	Least Concern ver 3.1
Year Assessed:	2006
Assessor/s	Bigirimana, C. & Vreven, E.
Evaluator/s:	Snoeks, J. (Freshwater Fish Red List Authority) & Darwall, W. (Freshwater Biodiversity Assessment Programme)
Justification: This species is common throughout Lake Tanganyika (abundant at some localities) with no known major widespread threats.

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	Endemic to Lake Tanganyika.
Countries:	Native: Burundi; Congo, The Democratic Republic of the; Tanzania, United Republic of; Zambia

Population [top]

Population:	Recorded by Matthes (1962) as a rather common species. According to Brichard (1978) it is common if not abundant at Cap Chipimbi (Zambia). Further, Brichard (1989) mentioned that M. tanganicae is probably the most common spiny eel along the rocky shores of Lake Tanganyika.
Population Trend:	Unknown

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	M. tanganicae is found on rocky coasts (Poll 1953, Matthes 1962, Brichard 1989, Eccles 1992) with debris, flag stones, pebbles and sand, of small depth, 0.20 to 0.30 m. It is rarely encountered below 5 m depth (Brichard 1989). It remains close to the shore (Brichard 1989) and prefers coasts with weak slopes with good plant cover (Matthes 1962). Its diet mainly includes crustaceans, insect larvae, and fish fry. In the surf zone of the shoreline they are the main predators on fry from rock-grazers.
Systems:	Freshwater

Habitat and Ecology:

M. tanganicae is found on rocky coasts (Poll 1953, Matthes 1962, Brichard 1989, Eccles 1992) with debris, flag stones, pebbles and sand, of small depth, 0.20 to 0.30 m. It is rarely encountered below 5 m depth (Brichard 1989). It remains close to the shore (Brichard 1989) and prefers coasts with weak slopes with good plant cover (Matthes 1962). Its diet mainly includes crustaceans, insect larvae, and fish fry. In the surf zone of the shoreline they are the main predators on fry from rock-grazers.

Systems:

Freshwater

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	Water pollution, habitat deterioration and sedimentation, and over-exploitation.

Major Threat(s):

Water pollution, habitat deterioration and sedimentation, and over-exploitation.

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:	None known.

Conservation Actions:

None known.

Citation:	Bigirimana, C. & Vreven, E. 2006. Mastacembelus tanganicae. In: IUCN 2009. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2009.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 09 February 2010.
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