THE NOTHOBRANCHIUS SITE

ZFMK 13951, holotype, male, 59.9 mm TL, 50.2 mm SL; Zambia: seasonal pool in Kafue National Park, 5 km south of Chunga-Lager, 100 m from the Kafue River, (approx. 15°03' S, 26°00' E); collected by K. Østergaard, 20 Feb. 1983.

AMG PF 1542 (5), MRAC 89-07-P-1 (1), ZFMK 13952 (1)

Nothobranchius kafuensis is a polychromatic species having three phenotypes comprising blue, orange-red and intermediate forms. Males have an orange-red head, throat and jaws and orange-red posterior scale margins on the trunk, resulting in an orange-red reticulation and an evenly distributed bar pattern on the body; the anal and caudal fins have a cream to light blue submarginal band and a black distal margin. Males of the orange-red phenotype have orange anal and caudal fins, whereas males of the blue phenotype have cream to light blue anal and caudal fins with red-brown spots proximally. The intermediate phenotype has an anal fin similar to the blue form but the caudal fin closely resembles that of the orange-red form.

Subgenus: Zononothobranchius

Species group: N. brieni group

Since its initial discovery in early 1955, populations of this species were mainly referred to as Nothobranchius taeniopygus. 

Nothobranchius kafuensis was established as a species by Wildekamp & Rosenstock in 1989, and that status has been accorded by all authors since.

"Saisontümpel im Kafue-Nationalpark, fünf Kilometer südlich vom Chunga-Lager, 100 Meter vom Kafue-Fluß entfernt."

[Zambia: seasonal pool in Kafue National Park, 5 km south of Chunga-Lager, 100 m from the Kafue River, (approx. 15°03' S, 26°00' E)]

This species is endemic to seasonal freshwater habitats in eastern Zambia. It is known from temporary pools, marshes and ditches in the Kafue drainage and the upper Zambezi drainage, eastern Zambia.

Upper Zambezi floodplains (556)

Kafue (557)

940–1188 m

Personal observation at collecting sites:

Water temperature: 26.7–28.0 °C

pH: 6.79–7.36

TDS:  50–90 ppm

Conductivity: 100–180 µS

None

This species has an annual life cycle.​​

Embryonic development under captive conditions in peat moss is about three to four months at room temperature.

Maximum size reported: 59.9 mm TL, 50.2 mm SL (ZFMK 13951, holotype, male)

Diploid chromosome number 2n = 36 (Scheel, 1981 [as N. species from Zambia]; Scheel, 1990 [misidentified as N. polli Zambia]); NF = 66, karyotype structure 8m+22sm+6st/a (Krysanov & Demidova, 2018).

Karyotype structure unique in the genus.

The specific name is formed from the name of the Kafue river, Zambia, in reference to the river system of origin of the species.

Least Concern (Nagy & Watters, 2019);

Previous assessment: Least Concern (Tweddle, D. 2007), 1996 – Endangered (EN), 1994 – Endangered (E), 1990 – Endangered (E), 1988 – Endangered (E)

    Wildekamp, R. H. & J. Rosenstock. 1989. Anmerkungen zu den Nothobranchius-Arten Sambias mit der Beschreibung von Nothobranchius kafuensis spec. nov. (Cyprinodontiformes, Nothobranchiinae). Die Aquarien und Terrarien Zeitschrift, 42 (7): 413–419. [taxonomy as Nothobranchius kafuensis]

    Watters, B. R., R. H. Wildekamp and K. M. Shidlovskiy. 2014. Description and biogeography of Nothobranchius capriviensis, a new species of annual fish from the Zambezi Region of northeastern Namibia (Cyprinodontiformes: Nothobranchiidae). Journal of the American Killifish Association, 47 (4–6): 97–133. [distribution, phylogeny, systematics]

    Watters, B. R., B. Nagy, P. D. W. van der Merwe, F. P. D. Cotterill & D. U. Bellstedt. 2019. Review of the Nothobranchius taeniopygus species group from central and western Tanzania with descriptions of five new species and redescription of Nothobranchius taeniopygus (Teleostei: Nothobranchiidae). Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, 29 (3): 239–278. [phylogeny]

    Nagy, B. & B. R. Watters. 2019. Nothobranchius kafuensis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: e.T140307993A99448101. [conservation]

    Nagy, B., B. R. Watters, P. D. W. van der Merwe, F. P. D. Cotterill & D. U. Bellstedt. 2020. Review of the Nothobranchius ugandensis species group from the inland plateau of eastern Africa with descriptions of six new species (Teleostei: Nothobranchiidae). Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, 30 (1): 21–73. [phylogeny]