The great lakes in the East African Rift Valley harbour an extraordinary rich fauna of cichlids, and almost all these fishes are endemic to their respective lakes. In Lake Tanganyika, the oldest of the rift lakes, ca. 200 cichlid species have been described, and new species are still being discovered. One of those new species was recently described by Tetsumi Takahashi of Kyoto University. The new species, named Benthochromis horii, in honour of the first person to recognise its status as a distinct species (Michio Hori), is described in the latest issue of the Journal of Fish Biology. It was found in deep waters (60-126m) of the southern part of Lake Tanganyika, off Mtondwe Island in Zambia.

Benthochromis horii can be distinguished from the other two species in the genus (i.e. B. melanoides and B. tricoti) by its smaller eyes and longer snout and the higher number of dorsal rays. Furthermore, In the new species, the number of outer teeth on the premaxillae tends to be less than its congeners. Large males of the new species are also distinguished from those of the congeners by their longer pelvic fin, the presence of a distinct pearl-grey longitudinal line through the upper end of the pectoral fin base, and the absence of a black large blotch on nape.

Benthochromis horii is not new to the aquarium trade. It was presented in Ad Konings Back to Nature Guide to Tanganyika cichlids (1996), although being referred to in this book as Benthochromis tricoti.

For more information, see the paper: Takahashi, T., 2008. Description of a new cichlid fish species of the genus Benthochromis (Perciformes: Cichlidae) from Lake Tanganyika. Journal of Fish Biology 72, pp. 603–613.