CreatureData

Auratus

Melanochromis auratus (Boulenger, 1897)

Status not recordedbony fish

The auratus (Melanochromis auratus) is a species in the family Cichlidae, order Cichliformes.

No freely licensed photo yet

Quick facts about the auratus

Weight
Not recorded
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the auratus live?

Not recorded

Where has it been introduced?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the auratus as introduced in 2 countries.

  1. Colombia
  2. Mexico

Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).

Is the auratus endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the auratus classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classTeleostei
  4. orderCichliformes
  5. familyCichlidae
  6. genusMelanochromis
  7. SpeciesMelanochromis auratus (Boulenger, 1897)

Synonyms Chromis aurata, Chromis auratus, Pseudotropheus auratus, Tilapia aurata

Other names and names in other languages (11)
  • Auratus cichlidEnglish
  • Golden mbunaEnglish
  • Malawi golden cichlidEnglish
  • Turquoise-gold cichlidEnglish
  • 纵带黑丽鱼Chinese
  • tlamovec pestrýCzech
  • Gylden Malawi-cichlideDanish
  • TürkisgoldbarschGerman
  • Mbuna doradoSpanish
  • kultamalawinahvenFinnish
  • Cíclido carameloSpanish

Catalogue of Life

Relatives of the auratus

Other species in the same genus Melanochromis.

Cichlid

Melanochromis chipokae

CichlidaeNo free photo yet

Purple mbuna

Melanochromis vermivorus

CichlidaeNo free photo yet

CompareAuratus vs CichlidAuratus vs Parallelus cichlidAuratus vs Melanochromis heterochromisAuratus vs Purple mbuna

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

Is the auratus an invasive species?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the auratus as introduced in 2 countries: Colombia and Mexico, but does not flag it as invasive in any of them.

What kind of animal is the auratus?

The auratus (Melanochromis auratus) belongs to the family Cichlidae in the order Cichliformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-13. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Auratus (Melanochromis auratus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/auratus

MLA

“Auratus (Melanochromis auratus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/auratus.

BibTeX
@misc{auratus_2026,
  title = {Auratus (Melanochromis auratus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/auratus},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-13}
}