NEWS113
4
fundamentally the brood care of
Bagrus
meredionalis
is effective and successful. But
the catfish has no defense against the
audacious
P.crabro,
whichstealsandeatsthe
eggs and tiny fry of the huge Kampango
withoutbeingpunished.
Does the color change serve as
camouflage?
It has been suggested that the Hornet
Cichlid changes color so that it isn't
recognized by the Kampangos while
stealing their eggsand fry. If
P.crabro
wishes
toclean then it signals thisusing theyellow-
brown coloration and the catfish doesn't
realize that it is the same fish as the dark
brownthief thateats itseggsandyoung.But
it isn't quite that simple. Andreas S
PREINAT
(whomwe have to thank for the splendid
underwaterphotosthat illustratethisarticle)
has told us that
P. crabro
doesn't go to the
trouble of changing color when it goes
raiding. Inotherwords, itdoes that inhornet
colorationaswell !
So itappearstobemoreacaseofthebenefit
to
Bagrus
from the cleaning behavior of
P.
crabro
being so great that
Bagrus
puts up
with the loss of eggs and young.Of course
the catfishdoesn't do so consciously, it just
has an instinctive bar against eating the
Hornet Cichlid. Another cichlid species,
Melanochromisbaliodigma
(formerly known
asM. sp. ”Blotch”).alsoprofits from this.This
species prefers to feed on small fishes and
Bagrus
probablyhasdifficulty telling itapart
from the cleaner. However,
M. baliodigma
prefers to feed on the cichlid fry that use
TheHornetCichlidandaKampango.Although the roughly40-45cm longcatfish isprotecting itsbrood,
it tolerates the cleaner fish.Thephotowas takenatGomeRock. allePhotos:Andreas Spreinat
A roughly 20-25 cm long Kampango. At this
size these catfishes are brownish with a
number of black speckles.
The same specimenas above.Theyoung catfishes canbe clearly seen.
