Pelmatolapia cabrae
| Pelmatolapia cabrae | ||||||||||||
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Drawing from: Les poissons du bassin du Congo by George Albert Boulenger |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Pelmatolapia cabrae | ||||||||||||
| ( Boulenger , 1899) |
Pelmatolapia cabrae is a species of fish from the family of cichlids (Cichlidae) that occurs in West Africa from the south of Equatorial Guinea via the coastal sections of the Ogooué , Kouilou and Chiloango river systems and the confluence of the Congo tothe Cuanza Delta in Angola. The fish species also goes into brackish water .
features
Pelmatolapia cabrae can reach a length of 37 to 40 cm. The fish are very high back, the head is short, the head profile is straight or concave. The head length is 32.4 to 37% of the standard length . The caudal fin is rounded. The basic color of the fish is yellowish, olive brown or gray-brown. In juvenile fish, the sides of the body are patterned with five to eight transverse ties, which disappear over time in adult fish. The light areas between the cross bars are narrower than the dark cross bars. The base of each scale on the sides of the body shows a crescent-shaped black spot. Between the upper sideline and the belly, the scales are patterned with irregularly distributed red dots (1 to 3 dots per scale). Throat, chest and belly are whitish, but reddish in many specimens during the breeding season. The top of the head, the top of the muzzle and the upper lip are dark olive green. The unpaired fins are greenish or smoky dark and partly show light spots on the fin membrane between the soft rays. The dorsal fin has a yellow border. The pelvic fins are greenish or gray with a whitish leading edge. The fins of the fry are gray or transparent. The jaws have four to seven rows of teeth, the teeth of the outer row are two-pointed and spade-shaped. The lower pharyngealia is equipped with relatively large teeth.
- Fins formula : dorsal XVI – XVII / 11–14, anals III / 9–11.
- Dandruff formula 30–31 (SL)
- 12 to 16 gill rakes on the lower branch of the first gill arch.
Pelmatolapia cabrae is of relatively great importance for the protein supply of the people living in its area of distribution. In the Congo there are breeding programs for the species. Ecology and nutrition in the natural habitat have so far hardly been researched.
Systematics
The species was first described in 1881 by the Belgian-British zoologist George Albert Boulenger under the scientific name Tilapia cabrae . Later it was placed there in the subgenus Pelmatolapia . In a comprehensive revision of the tilapine cichlids in 2013, Pelmatolapia was raised to the rank of an independent genus.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Anton Lamboj: The cichlids of western Africa. Publisher: Natur und Tier, 2006, ISBN 386-659000-8 , page 71.
- ↑ Melanie Stiassny, Guy Teugels & Carl D. Hopkins: The Fresh and Brackish Water Fishes of Lower Guinea, West-Central Africa, Volume 2 , ISBN 978-9074752213 , page 359 and 361.
- ↑ Pelmatolapia cabrae on Fishbase.org (English)
- ^ Andreas R. Dunz, Ulrich K. Schliewen: Molecular phylogeny and revised classification of the haplotilapiine cichlid fishes formerly referred to as “Tilapia”. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Volume 68, Issue 1, July 2013, Doi: 10.1016 / j.ympev.2013.03.015