Eye spot snakehead fish
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Eye spot snakehead fish ( Channa pleurophthalma ) |
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| Channa pleurophthalma | ||||||||||||
| ( Bleeker , 1851) |
The eye spot or point snakehead fish ( Channa pleurophthalma , syn .: Ophicephalus urophthalmus , Ophicephalus spiritalis ) is a 40 centimeter long predatory fish that is found in Indonesia, in Batang Hari and Musi in the southeast of the island of Sumatra and on Kalimantan , possibly also on Padang , found in white water and black water rivers. The fish is caught by humans for consumption and export as aquarium fish.
features
The eyespot snakehead fish has the typical, cylindrical body of all snakehead fish, which is slightly flattened at the most just before the tail. Ventral fins are present in this species . The long dorsal fin is supported by 40 to 43 fin rays, the anal fin is supported by 28 to 31. In a middle row one counts 57 to 58 scales. Between the lateral line and the base of the dorsal fin there are 5½ rows of scales.
The color of adult fish is usually brownish on the upper side, the sides iridescent metallic, greenish or bluish, the belly side is usually yellowish. A noticeable and eponymous feature are some large, black eye spots that are outlined in orange. Usually there are two to three large eye spots on the flanks, as well as one more on the base of the tail and one on the gill cover . There may be orange spots on the base of the anal and caudal fin. The unpaired fins (dorsal and anal fin) are spotted brown and marked with brown transverse bands. Both sexes are colored the same.
Young eye-spot snakehead fish have a reticulate pattern of four to six interrupted black vertical stripes that eventually develop into eye-spots.
Way of life
No detailed information is available about the way of life of the eyespot snakehead fish. For reproduction, the fish probably build a nest out of plant material, as is known from other snakehead fish.
literature
- Nora Brede, Pascal Antler: Species for species: Snakehead fish: Amazonas / The genera Channa and Parachanna. Natur und Tier-Verlag (2009), ISBN 3-8665-9104-7 .
- Günther Sterba : The world's freshwater fish. 2nd Edition. Urania, Leipzig / Jena / Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-332-00109-4 .
- Walter R. Courtenay & James D. Williams: Snakeheads (Pisces, Channidae) - A Biological Synopsis and Risk Assessment. US Department of the Interior, US Geological Survey Circular 1251, 2004 PDF .
Web links
- Eyepot Snakehead Fish on Fishbase.org (English)