Common names:
Velvet black
None

Taxonomic tree
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii (ray-finned fish)
Order: Cichliformes (Cichlids
Family: Cichlidae (Cichlids)
Genus: Neochromis
Species: Neochromis greenwoodi (Seehausen & Bouton, 1998)
Number of Occurrancies: 31

Etymology (based on Scharpf & Lazara (2019)

• Neochromis: neo-, meaning new, i.e., a new genus “closely related” to Haplochromis


• greenwoodi: in honor of the late Peter Humphry Greenwood (1927-1995), who “devoted much of his life to the study of the evolution and systematics of 


• the Lake Victoria cichlid species flock and laid the foundation for the modern systematics of these fishes”.

Synonyms:click here to view synonyms on FishBase, but also see special taxonomic notes below

Type locality: Mwanza Gulf, Anchor Island, Lake Victoria, Tanzania, depth 2-3 meters. Holotype at Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie (RMNH) 

General identification features for haplochromine cichlids

• A single nostril on each side of the head; dorsal fin with contineous spinous and soft-rayed parts; lateral line interrupted(with anterior superior part and posterior inferior part)


• Ctenoid scales


• Juveniles lack tilapia mark (dark spot at the posterior end of the dorsal fin)

Distinguishing characters for the genus(From Seehausen et al., 1998)

• A steep and convex dorsal head profile;


• A broad, sometimes square shaped lower jaw;


• Teeth in the outer row equally or subequally bicuspid and contigously set; teeth in the outer tooth row very movably implanted;


• 3 to more than 6 rows of inner teeth in both jaws forming broad bands anteriorly and anterolaterally; 


• Lack of a distinct gap separating the outer tooth row from the first inner row in the lower jaw;


• Usually 3-5 egg dummies on the anal fin of males;


• Flank scales much higher than wide and and either a usually distinct vertical bar pattern on the flanks or black blotches on organge ground .

Distinguishing characters for the species (From Seehausen et al., 1998)

• Large, relatively deep-bodied haplochromine with, in males, velvety black coloration of body and fins and a sharply demarcated, bright red margin to the caudal fin.


• Distinguished from N. simotes by larger body size, wider head and usually longer lower jaw, a much more terminal mouth, and a gap between inner and outer tooth row in the lower jaw; from N. nigricans by a wider head, longer and wider snout, deeper pre-orbital, longer lower jaw, and a gap between inner and outer tooth row in the lower jaw  (vs. no gap); from N. rufocaudalis by weakly bicuspid to unicuspid outer teeth in adult males (vs. subequally bicuspid), larger gaps between outer and first inner tooth row, by male coloration i.e. black (vs. blue); from N. gigas by weakly bicuspid to unicuspid outer teeth in adult males (vs. bicuspid), and by fewer rows of inner teeth i.e. 2-4 (vs. 4-7); and from N. omnicaeruleus by weakly bicuspid to unicuspid outer teeth in adult males (vs. subequally to uniequally bicuspid), and by male colouration i.e. black (vs. blue). Note that N. greenwoodi is a highly geographically variable cichlid, morphologically, apparently an adaptation to the resource base. For example, the dorsal head profile may change from relatively little convex, often slightly concave, in insect eating populations to distinctly convex in algae scraping populations. 

Taxonomic remarks: We adopt the genus Neochromis, which is valid in Catalog of Fishes (Eschmeyer et al. 2019), based on Seehausen et al. 1998, although FishBase (Froese and Pauly, 2019) lists the species in genus Haplochromis based on Van Oijen 1996.

Distribution in Uganda: Lake Victoria, Upper Victoria Nile

Occurence: Native

Habitat: Shallow rocky shores; predominantly steeply sloping large boulder shores but also found on gently sloping shores (Seehausen et al. 1998). 

Feeding: Omnivorous; feeding on feeding on epilith algae (predominantly diatoms but also filamentous algae), epilithic fauna, plankton, prawns and juvenile fishes (Seehausen et al. 1998).   

Biology: Pronounced sexual dimorphism in size; adult females reaching 9.5 cm SL and males reaching 13.5 cm SL. Polygynous mouth-brooder with maternal parental care, with the adult size reaching up to 13.3 cm SL; spawning is year round; length at 50% maturity about 8 cm SL in males and 10 cm SL in females (Seehausen et al. 1998). 

Economic importance/End use: Unknown. 

IUCN conservation status: click here to view conservation status

Threats: Predation, especially by Nile perch, and habitat degradation

Main references

• Seehausen, O., Lippitsch, E., Bouton, N. and Zwennes, H. 1998. Mbipi, the rock-dwelling cichlids of Lake Victoria: description of three new genera and fifteen new species (Teleostei). Ichtyological exploration of Freshwaters 9: 129-228.


• Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2019. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version (02/2019)


• Sharpf C, Lazara J.K. 2019. Fish Name Etymology Database v6. www.etyfish.org


• Eschmeyer, W.N., Fricke, R. and Van der Laan, R. (eds). 2019. Catalog of Fishes: genera, species, references. Updated 1 July 2019. Available at: http://researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/ichthyology/catalog/fishcatmain.asp. (Accessed 10 July 2019)


• van Oijen, M.J.P. 1996. The generic classification of haplochromine cichlids of Lake Victoria, East Africa. Zoologische Verhandelingen 302: 57-110.