American dogfish
| American dogfish | ||||||||||||
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American dogfish ( Umbra limi ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Umbra limi | ||||||||||||
| ( Kirtland , 1840) |
The American dogfish ( Umbra limi ) is a small freshwater fish from the order of the pike-like (Esociformes). He lives in the Saint Lawrence River , Great Lakes , Hudson Bay area , from Québec to Manitoba in Canada and in the Mississippi basin , south to Ohio , Tennessee and Arkansas in the United States. Also in the Hudson River basin in New York . Isolated populations exist in the Missouri basin in South Dakota and Iowa .
features
The fish have a somewhat clumsier shape than the European dogfish and are less flattened on the sides. They have a shorter, more rounded snout and are olive green in color. The flanks are darkly patterned and sometimes show 14 indistinct horizontal stripes. There is a dark spot on the tail fin root. The underside is pale yellow or white.
Fin formula : dorsal 13, anal 7–8
Way of life
The fish live in swamps, in quiet areas of rivers over muddy bottoms, mostly in dense vegetation. They tolerate a low oxygen content in the water and high water temperatures. American dogfish feed on aquatic insects, amphipods , water lice and snails .
During the spawning season in spring the animals have a greenish shimmer, the males are lemon-yellow to orange-red when they reproduce. The spawn is placed over plants or in a small hollow in the substrate. The female presumably takes care of the brood. The fry hatch after six days.
literature
- Günther Sterba : The world's freshwater fish. 2nd Edition. Urania-Verlag, Leipzig et al. 1990, ISBN 3-332-00109-4 .
Web links
- American dogfish on Fishbase.org (English)
- Umbra limi inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: NatureServe, 2012. Retrieved November 25, 2013.