East African lungfish
| East African lungfish | ||||||||||||
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East African lungfish ( Protopterus amphibius ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Protopterus amphibius | ||||||||||||
| ( Peters , 1844) |
The East African lungfish ( Protopterus amphibius ) occurs in East African coastal regions from Somalia to Kenya and in the Zambezi Delta . There are also reports of occurrences in the Tanzanian Rukwasee and in the river basin of the Ruaha , as well as from southern Africa, which have not yet been activated.
features
The East African lungfish reaches a maximum length of 44.3 cm with an average length of 30 cm, making it the smallest species of lungfish. Its body is elongated, round in cross section at the front and flattened at the sides behind the pectoral fins. As with all non-Australian lungfish, pectoral and ventral fins are reduced to fleshy threads. The East African lungfish differs from the West African lungfish ( Protopterus annectens ) mainly in its relatively long head, the length of which is roughly three times in the distance between the tip of the snout and the anus, the small number of pairs of ribs (27 to 29 versus 40 to 50) and the wider dorsal fin attached in front. Like the West African lungfish and in contrast to the two other African lungfish species, East African lungfish also have three short, finger-shaped external gill tufts as large, fully grown animals . East African lungfish are blue-gray to dark gray in color and unspotted or have individual small spots on the sides of the body. The belly is light gray to dark and spotted white, sometimes even whitish. The dark underside of the head, patterned with white spots, is characteristic.
Way of life
East African lungfish live in swamps and, during the rainy season, on flat floodplains. They survive the dry season in self-made slime cocoons buried in the ground until the next rainy season begins.
literature
- Günther Sterba : The world's freshwater fish. 2nd Edition. Urania, Leipzig / Jena / Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-332-00109-4 .
Web links
- East African Lungfish on Fishbase.org (English)
- Protopterus amphibius inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: Bills, R., Engelbrecht, J., Getahun, A. & Vreven, E., 2009. Retrieved December 1, 2013.