African knifefish
| African knifefish | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
African knifefish ( Xenomystus nigri ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Xenomystus | ||||||||||||
| Günther , 1886 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Xenomystus nigri | ||||||||||||
| ( Günther , 1886) |
The African knife fish ( Xenomystus nigri ) is a freshwater fish of tropical Africa that can grow up to 30 centimeters long .
Appearance
The high-backed fish are gray-brown in color. The anal fin has grown together with the caudal fin and forms a band of fins that constantly moves in waves. One dorsal fin is missing.
- Fin formula : dorsal 0, anal 108–130.
- Scale formula : mLR 120–142.
distribution
The African knifefish lives in the upper reaches of the Nile south of the Sudd , in the Central African Republic , in the northern Congo Basin , in Gabon and in West Africa as far as Liberia .
behavior
Young African knifefish live in shoals, while adults are solitary animals. The animals can make barking noises by forcing air from the swim bladder into the foregut. You breathe air with your swim bladder. They feed on invertebrates from the Benthal and Phytal , which they detect thanks to their electroreceptors in the skin (sideline); the (original olfactory or) forebrain is enlarged for information processing.
Reproduction
African knifefishes lay 150 to 200 eggs two to three millimeters in diameter.
swell
- Günther Sterba : The world's freshwater fish. 2nd Edition. Urania, Leipzig / Jena / Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-332-00109-4 .
Web links
- African knifefish on Fishbase.org (English)
- Xenomystus nigri inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013.2. Posted by: Getahun, A., Lalèyè, P., Moelants, T. & Olaosebikan, BD, 2009. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
annotation
- ↑ (gr.) Xenos foreign ( kind ), mystical initiate, shaman; Nigri of the Niger River