Needle fin eater
| Needle fin eater | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Belonophago tinanti | ||||||||||||
| Poll , 1939 |
The needle fin eater ( Belonophago tinanti ) is a predatory tetra from the family Distichodontidae and is native to Central Africa , in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Ubangi and the Malebo pool . The species was named after the catcher of the type specimens A. Tinant.
features
The needle fin eater, which grows to about 12 cm long, has an extremely elongated body that is only slightly flattened on the sides. The beak-like mouth is 1.5 to 2 times longer than the head area behind the eyes.
nutrition
The animals are food specialists and feed mainly on the fins or fin parts of other fish. They lie in wait for their victims, hidden in the thickets of plants, and then shoot out at lightning speed. Their strongly toothed jaws work like scissors and cut off parts of the prey fish's fin. The victims include tetra species from the genera Alestes , Distichodus and Hydrocynus as well as the cichlids from the genus Tylochromis .
literature
- Hans A. Baensch , Rüdiger Riehl : Aquariums Atlas, Volume 1 . Mergus Verlag GmbH; Publishing house for nature & pet science-Melle. 11th edition 1997, 8th paperback edition, ISBN 3-88244-101-1 .
- Günther Sterba : The world's freshwater fish. 2nd Edition. Urania, Leipzig / Jena / Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-332-00109-4 .
- Axel Zarske: Belonophago tinanti. In: Claus Schaefer, Torsten Schröer (Hrsg.): The large lexicon of aquaristics. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-8001-7497-9 , p. 145.
Web links
- Needle fin eater on Fishbase.org (English)
- Belonophago tinanti inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: Moelants, T., 2009. Retrieved January 9, 2014.