Actual pike
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| Lacépède , 1803 |
The real pike-pike ( Polypterus , from ancient Greek πολύ polý , German 'much' and πτερόν pterón , wing ', fin') are one of the two recent genera from the subclass of the cladistia . Together with the flössel eel ( Erpetoichthys calabaricus ) they form the family of flössel pike(Polypteridae). The name-giving feature of the family are the five to 18 dorsal rafts, which replace the dorsal fin and are each equipped with a spine. The paired fins sit on scaled, muscular “arms”.
Flösselhechte colonize tropical West and Central Africa , in the east to Lake Tanganyika . The animals have a 30 cm to 1 m long, stretched body. A special feature of bichirs is that the absorption of oxygen not only about the gills takes place, but also as pulmonary serving swim bladder . In order to take up oxygen, the animals must therefore come to the surface of the water regularly in order to breathe atmospheric air.
The scales are diamond-shaped ganoid scales and are extremely hard and resistant.
The pike lead a predatory life. Their menu consists of fish, frogs, crabs and insect larvae.
200 to 300 eggs are laid for reproduction, the larvae hatch after about four days, depending on the water temperature, they initially have external gills.
species
After a revision published in mid-2019, 13 Polypterus aces are recognized:
- Polypterus ansorgii Boulenger , 1910
- Nile pike ( Polypterus bichir ) Lacépède , 1803, type species
- Polypterus congicus Boulenger, 1898
- Zaire pike ( Polypterus delhezi ) Boulenger, 1899
- Endlicher's pike ( Polypterus endlicherii ) Heckel , 1847
- Polypterus mokelembembe Schliewen & Schäfer, 2006
- Ornate pike ( Polypterus ornatipinnis ) Boulenger, 1902
- Polypterus palmas Ayres , 1850
- Polypterus polli Gosse, 1988
- Polypterus retropinnis Vaillant , 1899
- Senegalese pike ( Polypterus senegalus ) Cuvier , 1829
- Polypterus teugelsi Britz, 2004
- Polypterus weeksii Boulenger, 1898
literature
- Kurt Fiedler: Textbook of Special Zoology. 2nd volume. Part 2. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Jena 1991, ISBN 3-334-00339-6 .
- Joseph S. Nelson: Fishes of the World. John Wiley & Sons, 2006, ISBN 0-471-25031-7 .
- Günther Sterba : The world's freshwater fish. 2nd Edition. Urania, Leipzig / Jena / Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-332-00109-4 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Moritz, T. & Britz, R. (2019): Revision of the extant Polypteridae (Actinopterygii: Cladistia). Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, IEF-1094: 1-96.
Web links
- Actual pike on Fishbase.org (English)