[5] A typical clupeiform, this is a small silver fish with a brighter stripe down the lateral line, a broad snout with tapering sides.

[2] Lake Tanganyika sardines undergo vertical migrations, spending the day in tight shoals in deep water, rising to the surface at dawn and dusk while spending the remainder of the night dispersed widely throughout the pelagic waters, although in Lake Kivu the fish move to the surface during the early morning and late afternoon.

One theory is that this may be a reaction to light intensity and be protection against predators, similar to that reported in marine clupeids.

The adults move into the shallows to breed,[5] this is usually during the rainy season and peaks in May and June and again in December and January[2] but has been recorded throughout the year.

Molecular phylogenetic reconstructions indicate that the ancestors of these freshwater dorosomatids colonised West Africa 25–50 million years ago, at the end of a major marine incursion in the region.

Dorosomatids subsequently speciated in an evolutionary radiation in West Africa, spreading across the continent and colonising Lake Tanganyika during its early formation.

[5] Other fish predators of the sardines in Lake Kariba include Coptodon rendalli, Synodontis zambezensis and Schilbe intermedius.

Some birds also feed on the sardines in Lake Kariba and possibly elsewhere, notably the white-winged black tern, Chlidonias leucoptera and the pied kingfisher Ceryle rudis.