The taxonomy of East African Nile Perch, Lates spp. (Perciformes, Centropomidae)

The type specimens of Lates albertianus, L. macrophthalmus, L. niloticus rudolfianus and L. niloticus longispinis are contrasted with each other, with riverine L. niloticus niloticus and with a collection of Nile Perch from Lake Victoria. Contrary to current belief L. niloticus niloticus was found to differ both from L. albertianus and from L. niloticus rudolfianus , but no significant difference was found between L. albertianus and L. niloticus rudolfianus . The Lake Victoria collection was found to differ from all other taxa, suggesting that the characters currently used in the taxonomy of Lates are inappropriate for this purpose. It is recommended that a reappraisal of Nile Perch taxonomy be made using more modern techniques and that studies are initiated to discover how characters change during development under differing environmental conditions.