Panchax
| Panchax | ||||||||||||
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Panchax, specimen from a mangrove forest on the coast of the southern Thai province of Rayong |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Aplocheilus panchax | ||||||||||||
| ( Hamilton , 1822) |
The Panchax ( Aplocheilus panchax ), also Common Hecht Ling called, is a small freshwater fish, which is native to South and Southeast Asia in ponds, ditches and on the flooded rice fields. The distribution area extends from Pakistan through India, Sri Lanka , southern Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar to the Malay Archipelago . In other areas the Panchax has been introduced for the purpose of mosquito control. It is not yet certain whether the Southeast Asian populations are really the Panchax or another, possibly not yet described species. The type material used for the first description comes from the Ganges catchment area . The species was first introduced to Germany in 1899 and is kept here as an aquarium fish .
features
The Panchax is a maximally 9 cm long, pike-shaped stretched surface fish with an above, wide mouth and large eyes. Because of the large distribution area, the species is variable in color. The basic color is a bluish or greenish iridescent gray-yellow or gray- blue . The belly is yellowish or whitish. The fin edges are usually reddish or yellow, sometimes light blue. Males and females hardly differ in color. Like all Aplocheilus species, the Panchax has a silvery vertex on its head.
- Fin formula : dorsal 7–8, anal 15–16.
- Scale formula : mLR 27–33.
Way of life
The Panchax occurs in stagnant and slow-flowing waters with fresh water or light brackish water. The fish living close to the surface prefer a floating plant cover or stay under overhanging bank vegetation. Companion fish are often rice parsley ( oryzias ). The Panchax feeds mainly on approach food (insects that have fallen on the surface of the water) and insect larvae. The fish are oviparous and spawn in fine-feathered plants during the monsoon months . Depending on the temperature, oxygen content or other parameters, the fry hatch after 9 to 14 days. The Panchax can live to be five years old.
Systematics
The Panchax was the Scottish 1822 ichthyologists Francis Buchanan-Hamilton as Esox panchax , so as Hechtart , described and later the Zahnkärpflingsgattung Aplocheilus assigned. Due to the numerous color variants, five subspecies and some color variants have also been described as independent species that are currently not recognized as valid.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Aplocheilus panchax in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2010. Posted by: Chaudhry, S., 2009. Accessed November 14, 2016th
- ↑ a b Aplocheilus panchax in the Catalog of Fishes (English)
- ↑ Hans A. Baensch , Rüdiger Riehl: Aquariums Atlas, Volume 1 . Mergus Verlag, 1997, ISBN 3-88244-101-1 . Page 548
- ↑ a b c Reinhold Bech: Egg-laying tooth carps. Neumann Verlag, Leipzig - Radebeul, 1984, VLN 151-310 / 52/84, page 59.
- ↑ a b c Günther Sterba : Freshwater fish of the world. 2nd Edition. Urania, Leipzig / Jena / Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-332-00109-4 , p. 484.
Web links
- Aplocheilus panchax on Fishbase.org (English)