Oreochromis upembae (Thys van den Audenaerde 1964)

Diagnosis: Oreochromis upembae is a deep-bodied species with a short head, which looks very similar to O. malagarasi (Ref. 52307). It is distinguished by following characters: mature males with a bifid and tuberculate genital papilla, prolonged into a cream-coloured tassel in breeding males, in which the edges of the dorsal and caudal fins are orange-coloured or red; two to four dark blotches mid-laterally from operculum to caudal peduncle and a blotch on top of caudal peduncle, distinctive in that the blotches are rather large and vaguely outlined and persist in adults; caudal fin with dark, narrow, vertical stripes or series of spots, only a little less regular than in O. niloticus; caudal rays rather densely scaled to near edge; caudal peduncle deep; vertebrae 29-30; scales in lateral line series 28-31; dorsal spines XIV-XVI, soft rays 11-13; outer teeth bicuspid, in some fishes becoming unicuspid by wear; lower pharyngeal teeth fine, the tooth area with rounded lateral lobes, the blade 1.15-1.5 times the medial length of the toothed area; lower gill-rakers 20-25; and interorbital width 38.8-43.3% length of head (Ref. 2). Among the tasselled tilapias this most resembles O. malagarasi, which differs in having a less scaly caudal fin, the scales usually confined to the basal parts of the rays, and in lacking the regular dark stripes or series of spots on the caudal; and in O. malagarasi the range of dorsal spines is higher, XVI-XVII (Ref. 2).Description: A deep-bodied species with a short head (Ref. 2).Colouration: Body colouration is dark brown with some yellow on the flanks; the throat and breast are black; some dark maculae may be visible on the flanks; the fins are normally dusky gray and the dorsal fin exhibits red margins; some reddish vertical bars are normally present in the caudal fin (Ref. 52307).

The female broods the young and eggs in the mouth in the shelter of sandbanks in the Congo River at Yangambi (Ref. 2).

Dorsal spines (total): 14 - 16; Dorsal soft rays (total): 11 - 13; Analspines: 3; Analsoft rays: 9 - 12; Vertebrae: 29 - 30

A maternal mouthbrooder (Ref. 52307).

fisheries: