The cuckoo catfish parasitizes Tanganyikan mouthbrooding cichlids, and under captive conditions, will also parasitize cichlids from other Rift Valley lakes. PMID 26394688.The only known non-avian vertebrate obligate brood parasite is the cuckoo catfish (Synodontis multipunctatus), a Lake Tanganyikan endemic. "An improved genome reference for the African cichlid, Metriaclima zebra". "The genomic substrate for adaptive radiation in African cichlid fish". Lim, Zhi Wei Bezault, Etienne Turner-Maier, Jason (September 2014). Malinsky, Milan Keller, Irene Fan, Shaohua Simakov, Oleg Ng, Alvin Y. "Comparative analysis reveals signatures of differentiation amid genomic polymorphism in Lake Malawi cichlids".
^ "Morphology Data of Maylandia zebra".^ a b Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds.It was found that the male's preference in mate colouring was best predicted by the colour morph of his mother and that he was not influenced in his choice by his rearing experience. (2008) investigated whether the colour morph of the female influenced the male's choice of mate. When mature enough, the fry are expelled into the open water and quickly find natural shelter in which to hide. During this time she is unable to feed and she loses weight. The female broods the eggs and early stage young in her mouth for 18 to 24 days. The zebra mbuna is a maternal mouth brooding cichlid. It holds its body at right angles to the rock and presses its mouth against the surface, repeatedly opening and closing it, and these actions scrape off the loose aufwuchs which it then ingests. Its mobile mouth is at the tip of its snout with bicuspid teeth at the front and widely spaced tricuspid teeth behind. It also consumes zooplankton and small invertebrates. The zebra mbuna largely feeds on aufwuchs, an algae-based community of organisms adhering to rock surfaces. The zebra mbuna is endemic to Lake Malawi where it is found in rocky areas, both where there is sediment and where the rock is bare at depths between 6 and 28 m (20 and 92 ft). The pectorals have brown rays and clear membranes, and the black pelvic fins have white leading edges. The dorsal and caudal fins are a similar brown/black colour and so are the anal fins, but on them, the trailing edges have a number of yellow spots. In the other colour morph the throat is brown and the head and body are dark brown to black, the body having blue highlights. In one morph the head and body colour is pale brownish-grey, with similar coloured dorsal, anal and caudal fins, the pectoral fins have grey rays and clear membranes, and the black pelvic fins have white leading edges. The female zebra mbuna is polymorphic, that is to say it occurs in two different colour forms. In both cases the body is bright blue with up to eight grey/black bars, the dorsal fin is blue and the anal fin is blue to grey, with one to five orange to yellow spots. The male fish varies in colour in different parts of its range, in some locations having a dark head, throat and belly and in others a blue head, whitish throat and grey/blue belly. It grows to a maximum length of 11.3 cm (4.4 in) SL. The anal fin has three to four spines and six to nine soft rays. The zebra mbuna has a single dorsal fin with sixteen to nineteen spines and seven to ten soft rays. Metriaclima melabranchion Stauffer, Bowers, Kellogg & McKaye, 1997.
Maylandia melabranchion (Stauffer, Bowers, Kellogg & McKaye, 1997).
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