This can't be good...

[mee-mee]

According to the 2007 International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources red list 156 cichlid species are currently listed as vulnerable, 40 species are listed as endangered, while 69 species are listed as critically endangered. Six species, Haplochromis ishmaeli, Haplochromis lividus, Haplochromis perrieri, Paretroplus menarambo, Platytaeniodus degeni and Yssichromis sp. nov. 'argens' are extinct in the wild, while at least 39 species, most from the genus Haplochromis, have become extinct since the early 1990s. .

(hopefully people will somehow someday see this and decide to quit hurting the fishies.

 

[Lady G]

That is sooo sad!!! I wonder why it there are so many from the Hap. species??

 

[mee-mee]

THis could be why...

It might seem very odd to call a group of Malawi cichlids “Haplochromis” when there are no Haplochromis species included in the group, but this has a historical explanation. When the Malawi cichlids became popular as aquarium species, a lot of the popular Malawi cichlid species were still considered Haplochromis cichlids. As more research was made, the scientists found out that these species did not belong to the Haplochromis group. Today, all the Malawi cichlids that were once counted as Haplochromis species have been moved to other genera. True members of the genus Haplochromine are not found in Lake Malawi, but in Lake Victoria. It is however still common to refer to certain types of Malawi cichlids as “Haps” or “Haplochromis cichlids” in everyday speech, and some pet stores still sell certain Malawi Cichlids under that name. This article is about those “fake” Haplochromis cichlids; Malawi cichlids that used to belong to the genus Haplochromine. :read: