Protomelas kirkii is a species of cichlid endemic to Lake Malawi, where it is most commonly found in areas vegetated with Vallisneria.
[2] This cichlid fish is relatively deep-bodied, with a small mouth and a yellow-brown colour with an obvious horizontal flank stripe.
Mature males, which are generally much larger than adult females, are bright metallic blue-green with numerous orange-red spots on the dorsal and caudal (tail) fins.
[3] The species was described as Chromis kirkii in 1894 by Albert Günther at the Natural History Museum in London, from specimens sent by Sir Harry Johnston, then colonial governor of British Central Africa.
In 1989, David Eccles and Ethelwynn Trewavas designated C. kirkii as the type species for their new genus Protomelas, which then contained some 14 endemic Lake Malawi cichlid fish species united by a shared body pattern (in females and immatures) comprising both horizontal and vertical dark markings.
Males build a small mound of sediment, often in an area cleared of weeds in shallow water (less than 2m deep).