African single line tetra
| African single line tetra | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Drawing of the species from the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London from 1871. |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Nannaethiops | ||||||||||||
| Günther , 1872 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Nannaethiops unitaeniatus | ||||||||||||
| Günther, 1872 |
The African single- liner tetra ( Nannaethiops unitaeniatus ) is a small, only 6 to 7 centimeters large freshwater fish from the order of the tetra-like species . It occurs in West Africa from the Niger and Cross Rivers in Nigeria via Cameroon , Gabon ( Lower Guinea ) to the lower Congo Basin , possibly also in Ghana and the Chad Basin .
The generic name Nannaethiops of the Salmer, first described in 1871 by the zoologist Albert Günther, refers to the origin and the small body size and means something like "small Ethiopian", the epithet unitaeniatus ( Latin : "with a bandage") refers to the longitudinal bandage on the sides of the body.
features
The African single-stripe tetra has an elongated, laterally only slightly flattened body and a brownish base color. A dark longitudinal band extends from the eye over the edge of the gill cover to the middle of the caudal fin, above which there is a copper-colored to gold band. The bases of the dorsal and caudal fin are usually reddish. The back is gray-olive, in the males, depending on the mood, also reddish to carmine-red . The ventral side is yellowish white, the tip of the dorsal fin is dark. The caudal fin stalk is 1 to 1.5 times longer than it is high. The body is covered by relatively large round scales. The mouth extends below the front edge of the eye. The jaws are set with two rows of double-pointed teeth. Eleven to twelve teeth sit on the outer row of the premaxillary , two to three on the maxillary , eleven to twelve in the outer row of the lower jaw. The maxillary and premaxillary can move relative to one another, the upper jaw as a whole only slightly relative to the cranium .
The caudal fin is forked with rounded lobes. An adipose fin is present. It can be distinguished from Neolebias by its complete sideline . Males are six inches long, females a maximum of seven centimeters.
- Fin formula : dorsal fin 11–16; Anal fin 10, pectoral fin 8–9.
- Dandruff formula : 4–5 / 32–36 / 4.
The first rays of the dorsal and anal fin are relatively short, the rays of the pectoral fin close to the body are unbranched.
Way of life
The African single-liner tetra lives close to the bottom of the water and feeds on worms, small crustaceans and insects. It spawns in plant stocks and does not take care of the brood. At a water temperature of 25 ° C, the fish larvae hatch after about 25 hours and swim free after five days.
literature
- Axel Zarske: Nanaethiops unitaeniatus Günther, 1871. In: Claus Schaefer, Torsten Schröer (ed.): The large lexicon of aquaristics. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-8001-7497-9 , p. 677.
- Günther Sterba : Freshwater fish in the world . Urania Verlag., Leipzig 1990; Licensed edition for Weltbild Verlag GmbH, Augsburg 1995, ISBN 3-89350-991-7 .
- Melanie Stiassny, Guy Teugels, Carl D. Hopkins: The Fresh and Brackish Water Fishes of Lower Guinea, West-Central Africa, Volume 1. ISBN 9789074752206 .
Web links
- African single line tetra on Fishbase.org (English)
- Nannaethiops unitaeniatus inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: Getahun, A., Lalèyè, P., Moelants, T. & Olaosebikan, BD, 2009. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
Individual evidence
- ^ A. Günther: Report on several collections of fishes recently obtained for the British Museum. In: Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1871. Part 3, No. 1 (November 21, 1871), 1872, pp. 652-675 and panels 53-70.