Lepidiolamprologus meeli
Lepidiolamprologus meeli is a cichlid fish found only in Lake Tanganyika. It lives in the waters of Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, and Zambia. The species is listed as Least Concern by conservationists.
In classification, it belongs to the genus Lepidiolamprologus, though some scientists place it in the related genus Neolamprologus. It has been called Lamprologus meeli and Neolamprologus meeli in the past.
The species was named after Ludo van Meel, a botanist who collected the first specimen during a Belgian hydrobiological expedition to Lake Tanganyika in 1946–1947.
L. meeli is related to several other Tanganyika cichlids, including N. boulengeri, L. hecqui, L. attenuatus, and L. kendalli. Its exact evolutionary history is unclear because hybridization has likely occurred, and genetic studies have given mixed results. Researchers are still working to understand how closely L. meeli is related to its neighbors. More research is needed.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 19:46 (CET).