Diagnosis: Species with a piscivorous morphology; head blunt and with convex dorsal outline; cheek deep, cheek depth 27.1-35.2% of head length; outer oral teeth many and small, 43-70; dominant males grey dorsally and yellow ventrally (Ref. 126312). Amongst piscivorous species from the Lake Edward system, Haplochromis kimondo differs from H. latifrons, H. mentatus, H. rex, H. simba, H. glaucus and H. aquila by the combination of a broader head, head width 42.9-48.0% of headclength vs. 36.8-43.7%; small vs. large outer oral teeth; and a larger number of outer upper jaw teeth, 43-70 vs. 22-47 (Ref. 126312). It differs from H. falcatus, H. curvidens, H. pardus, H. quasimodo, and H. squamipinnis by the combination of body pyriform vs. oval to rhomboid; and snout blunt vs. (very) acute in dorsal view; it differs further from H. falcatus and H. curvidens by the combination of deeper cheeks, cheek depth 27.1-35.2% of head length vs. 22.4-28.0%; broader jaws, lower jaw width 44.7-53.3% of lower jaw length vs. 38.5-45.5%; and a slightly broader head, head width 42.9-48.0% of head length vs. 39.9-44.4%; further from H. falcatus by dominant males grey dorsally and yellow ventrally vs. olive-green with an orange-red anterior part of flank; further from H. curvidens by presence vs. absence of a well-defined mid-lateral band in all specimens; it further differs from H. pardus, H. quasimodo and H. squamipinnis by a steeper sloping snout, 40-50° vs. 30-40°; and dominant males grey dorsally and yellow ventrally vs. speckled to uniformly black, light grey dorsally and blue-black ventrally, or slate blue, respectively; further from H. pardus and H. quasimodo by a broader interorbital area, interorbital width 49.2-58.5% of head width vs. 39.3-48.7%; further from H. squamipinnis by absence vs. presence of minute scales on proximal part of dorsal and anal fins (Ref. 126312).

Description: Body shallow and pyriform (Ref. 126312). Head long, stout, average in width in comparison to generalised H. elegans, but broad for a piscivorous species, and with a convex dorsal outline; eye small; interorbital area average in width; cheek and lacrimal deep (Ref. 126312). Snout long, blunt, and slopes at 40-50°; premaxillary pedicel long and slightly prominent; jaws isognathous to slightly prognathous, long, relatively stout, rounded in dorsal view, and narrow; gape large and slopes at 25-30°; maxilla extends to vertical through pupil; lower jaw with a straight ventral outline in lateral view, mental prominence absent or weakly developed, and lower jaw side nearly flat with an inclination of 15-30° to horizontal in anterior view; upper jaw weakly expanded anteriorly; lips and oral mucosa large (Ref. 126312). Neurocranium average in depth, ethmo-vomerine block decurved, preorbital region average in depth, 23-25% of neurocranium length, orbital region average in depth, 31-33% of neurocranium length, and supraoccipital crest shallow and wedge-shaped (Ref. 126312). Outer oral teeth numerous and very small; necks stout, conical, and straight; crowns recurved and unicuspid in large specimens of more than 85 mm standard length, bicuspid in small specimens less than 85 mm standard length; major cusps acutely pointed; minor cusps small; dental arcades rounded; outer teeth closely and regularly set with neck-distance of 1/2-1 neck-width; in upper jaw, 2-3 posteriormost teeth enlarged; inner teeth small, weakly recurved, unicuspid in large specimens of more than 100 mm standard length, weakly tricuspid in small specimens less than 100 mm standard length, and acutely pointed in all specimens; tooth bands very slender crescent-shaped with 1-3 rows of inner teeth, and narrow posteriorly until only outer row remains past 2/3 length of tooth band in lower jaw, past 3/4 length of tooth band in upper jaw; inner teeth closely and regularly set on 1/2-1 outer neck-width from outer row; implantation erect; size uniform throughout tooth band (Ref. 126312). Lower pharyngeal bone average in length, triangular, slim, and shallow with a slightly deeper keel; pharyngeal teeth relatively large and relatively stout; major cusps acutely pointed; cusp gaps concave; minor cusps and cusp protuberances very small; teeth in two median longitudinal rows equal in size and form to lateral teeth, 10 in each row; posterior transverse row with 18-19 teeth, implanted erectly with a lateral inclination; major cusps recurved, bluntly pointed, and laterally compressed; minor cusps mostly absent (Ref. 126312). Chest scales small; transition to larger flank scales gradual; minute scales on proximal half of caudal fin; scales on longitudinal line 31-36, scales on upper lateral line 19-24, scales on lower lateral line 8-12, scales between dorsal fin and upper lateral line 6-8, scales between upper lateral line and anal fin 11-14, scales around caudal peduncle 17-19, scales between pectoral and pelvic fin 6-10, infraorbital cheek scales 3-5, postorbital cheek scales 9-12 (Ref. 126312). Caudal fin emarginate to subtruncate; dorsal and anal fins reach to between verticals through one scale anterior to and one scale posterior to caudal-fin base; pectoral fin reaches to genital opening; pelvic fin reaches to between genital opening and first anal-fin spine in females, to between first and second anal-fin spines in males; first branched pelvic-fin ray slightly elongated in all specimens (Ref. 126312). Ceratobranchial gill rakers in outer row of first gill arch short, stout, and simple; posteriormost rakers mostly anvil-shaped; epibranchial gill rakers relatively slender and simple (Ref. 126312).

Colouration: Colouration in life of dominant males: dorsal parts of both body and head grey; ventral half of body, operculum, cheek, and lips yellow; flank with a blue sheen; lower jaw, preoperculum, and branchiostegal membrane black; belly and chest speckled black; eye with (dark) grey outer ring and silver-yellow inner ring; flank often with a well-defined mid-lateral band, very faint dorsal-lateral band and 6-7 very faint vertical stripes; lacrimal stripe broad and well-defined, vertical preopercular stripe well-defined, and nostril and interorbital stripes faint; pelvic fin black; pectoral fin hyaline; dorsal fin hyaline and with black lappets; caudal fin dusky dorsally and crimson ventrally; posterior part of dorsal fin and dorsal part of caudal fin maculated crimson; anal fin crimson and with dusky base and posterior part, black distal border and lappets, and 2-4 small orange egg-spots with dusky rings (Ref. 126312). Colouration in life of females and juveniles: dorsal part of body, flank, operculum, cheek, and lips light-grey; ventral part of body, belly, chest and branchiostegal membrane white to yellow; eye with (dark) grey outer ring and silver-yellow inner ring; flank often with a well-defined mid-lateral band and a faint dorsal-lateral band; snout and lacrimal dusky; nostril, interorbital, and lacrimal stripes faint, mental blotch present; pectoral fin yellowish, pelvic fin yellow, dorsal fin hyaline and with black lappets, anal fin yellow and with 1-3 small spots resembling egg-spots, and caudal fin dusky dorsally and yellow ventrally (Ref. 126312). Preserved colouration: dorsal part of body brown; ventral part of body yellowish in females, speckled black in dominant males; cheek light yellow in females, brown in dominant males; lower jaw and preoperculum black in dominant males; snout dusky in all specimens; flank often with a well-defined mid-lateral band, a faint dorsal-lateral band and 6-7 vertical stripes; nostril and interorbital stripes faint, lacrimal stripe broad and well-defined, mental blotch present, and vertical preopercular stripes well-defined in dominant males; pectoral fin hyaline, pelvic fin dusky in females and black in dominant males, dorsal fin dusky and with black lappets and maculated posterior part; anal fin whitish in females, while hyaline, with dark base and posterior part, and 2-4 small egg-spots in dominant males; caudal fin with dusky and maculated dorsal part and hyaline ventral part (Ref. 126312).