Common names:
Moon fish
Lunyoro/Lugungu/: Mpoi Alur/Jonam: Aporo

Taxonomic tree
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii (ray-finned fish)
Order: Characiformes (Characins)
Family: Citharinidae (Lutefishes)
Genus: Citharinus
Species: Citharinus citharus (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1809)
Number of Occurrancies: 0

Etymology (based on Sharpf & Lazara, 2018)

• Citharinus:  –inus, adjectival suffix, i.e., harp-like, referring to scale rows of C. citharus, which are said to resemble the strings of a harp or lute.


• citharus: cithara; harp, lyre or lute, a name dating to Aristotle, referring to its conspicuous transverse scales rows, “nearly straight and parallel, which resemble the strings of a harp”

Synonyms:click here to view synonyms

Type locality: Nile River, Egypt. Syntypes at Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN).

Distinguishing characters for the genus

• A deep, short body (1.75-2.33 times longer than deep) and strongly compressed


• Small cycloid scales


• Large mouth with single row of minute teeth


• The lower halves of the lower jaw are narrowly united


• Dorsal fin situated behind the insertion of the pelvic fin


• Adipose dorsal fin large and scaled


• Caudal fin scaled on its basal part only


• Silvery color; base of the adipose dorsal fin dark grey. Pelvic and anal fin orange red except at the base. Interior lobe of the caudal fin with a distinct orange flush; all other fins grey. 

Distinguishing characters for the species

• Base of the adipose fin shorter than its distance from the posterior margin of the dorsal fin


• lateral line with 77-92 scales. 

Distribution in Uganda: Lake Albert, Murchison and Albert Nile

Occurence: Native

Habitat: Dermersal, living and feeding at the bottom; common in shallow inshore waters and absent or rare in deep waters; Anadromous. Its offshore range is somewhat greater than Distichodus nefasch.

Feeding: Macroplankton, particulary those elements such as Crustacea and diatoms which settle on the lake bottom. 

Biology: No information is available on breeding, eleswhere, C. citharus may breed in swampy areas during the season of heavy rainfall. 

Economic importance/End use: The species was economically important for communities around Lake Albert but suffered marked decline due to overfishing and is currently more of incidental catch 

IUCN conservation status: click to view IUCN status

Threats: Fishing

Main references

• Greenwood PH. 1966. The fishes of Uganda. The Uganda Society, Kampala. 131 pages.


• Sharpf C, Lazara J.K. 2018. Fish Name Etymology Database v16. www.etyfish.org