Lates angustifrons
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Young specimen in Lake Tanganyika |
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| Lates angustifrons | ||||||||||||
| Boulenger , 1906 |
Lates angustifrons is apredatory fish from the subfamily of giant perch (Latinae) that is endemic to Lake Tanganyika in East Africa.
features
Lates angustifrons are a maximum of two meters long and can reach a maximum weight of 100 kg. This makes it the largest fish in Lake Tanganyika. The Ethiopian lungfish ( Protopterus aethiopicus ) found in the edge areas of the lake can reach a similar length, but with a maximum weight of 17 kg it remains considerably lighter. Lates angustifrons has a typical giant perch shape with a high trunk, two separate dorsal fins and a flattened head with a wide mouth. The eyes are smaller than the distance between them. The distance between the two dorsal fin is greater than the distance between the last spines of the first dorsal fin. The caudal fin is rounded. Young fish have a golden yellow base color, their tail fin is spotted. Adult fish are silvery.
Way of life
Lates angustifrons live as juvenile fish up to a length of about 18 cm closer to the coast, between aquatic plants and in river mouths, as an adult predatory fish above the seabed in all habitats. It feeds piscivor mainly on pelagic cichlids and the herring endemic there .
Danger
The stock of Lates angustifrons has declined by more than 50% in the last 20 years due to overfishing and is classified as endangered by the IUCN .
literature
- Luc De Vos and Jos Snoeks: The non-cichlids of the Tanganyika basin. in DATZ special issue Tanganyika, Verlag Eugen Ulmer, 1998, ISSN 1616-3222
Web links
- Lates angustifrons on Fishbase.org (English)
- Lates angustifrons in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2006. Posted by: Ntakimazi, G., 2006. Accessed August 16, 2012th