Polypterus polli
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Prepared specimen in the Royal Museum for Central Africa in the Belgian municipality of Tervuren. |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Polypterus polli | ||||||||||||
| Gosse , 1988 |
Polypterus polli is an African freshwater fish from the pike family(Polypteridae), which occurs in swamps and flood zones in the lower and central Congo basin.
features
Polypterus polli becomes a maximum of 32 cm centimeters long. The elongated body, covered with ganoid scales arranged in oblique rows, is approximately round in cross section in the front two thirds. The last third of the body is flattened laterally. The back and sides of the fish are marked with large black spots that are arranged in a dense net-like pattern. The ventral side and the pelvic fins are monochrome light. The fleshy pectoral fin base shows a large gray or black spot, the pectoral fins of some specimens are striped. The back flippers are spotted.
The lower jaw of the fish is slightly longer than the upper jaw and protrudes slightly. Polypterus polli has 52 to 55 scales in a row along the side line , 32 to 39 scales in a row around the body, and 22 to 28 scales in front of the first raft. The number of dorsal fleas is only 5 to 7 and is therefore the lowest among all flessle hake species (6 to 7 in P. teugelsi , 6 to 8 in P. mokelembembe , 7 to 9 in P. palmas and P. retropinnis ). The anal fin is supported by 14 fin rays. The pectoral fins do not reach the first raft. The number of vertebrae is 50 to 56.
Way of life
Like all pike fish, Polypterus polli is a bottom-dwelling fish species that can also breathe air through the swim bladder that acts as a lungs . It lives in swamps and floodplains and feeds on fish, snails and crustaceans.
literature
- Frank Schäfer: Polypterus: Flösselhechte / Bichirs. Publisher: ACS, June 2004, ISBN 978-3936027396
- Suzuki, D., MC Brandley and M. Tokita, 2010. The mitochondrial phylogeny of an ancient lineage of ray-finned fishes (Polypteridae) with implications for the evolution of body elongation, pelvic fin loss, and craniofacial morphology in Osteichthyes. BMC Evolutionary Biology 10: 1-12.
Web links
- Polypterus polli on Fishbase.org (English)