Magnificent barb

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Magnificent barb
Barbus callipterus.jpg

Magnificent barb ( Enteromius callipterus )

Systematics
without rank: Otophysa
Order : Carp-like (Cypriniformes)
Subordination : Carp fish-like (Cyprinoidei)
Family : Carp fish (Cyprinidae)
Genre : Enteromius
Type : Magnificent barb
Scientific name
Enteromius callipterus
( Boulenger , 1907)

The magnificent fin barbel ( Enteromius callipterus ( Greek callos "beautiful", pteron "fin"), syn .: Barbus callipterus ) is a small-sized freshwater fish from West Africa. Their range includes the rivers of the coastal plain of Ivory Coast , Ghana and Benin . It is also found in Nigeria , in the Lake Chad catchment area , in Benue and in Equatorial Guinea ( Mbini and Bioko ).

features

The licorice barb is a maximum of eight to nine centimeters long and weighs five grams. It has an elongated, laterally flattened body, which is from a yellowish-brown to yellowish-green base color and has a silvery shimmer. The back side is darker, the belly side lighter or purely silvery. The scales on the upper half of the body have dark edges, with a brown spot at the base along the full and horizontal side line . The pores of the lateral line system on the head are clearly visible. The fins are yellowish at their base and transparent on the outside. Dorsal and caudal fins can also be reddish in sexually mature magnificent fin barbs. The iris is red on top. The mouth is slightly below and is surrounded by two short pairs of barbels. Females are strongly built, males significantly more slender.

It can be easily distinguished from other West African Enteromius species by a dark spot on the center of the front dorsal fin and a colorless dorsal fin tip. In Enteromius deserti , only the tip of the dorsal fin is marked by a spot.

Way of life

The licorice barb lives in small rivers. It is productive and lays up to 1000 slightly yellowish eggs in delicate plants. The fry hatch after about 36 hours and swim free after four days. They are sexually mature after about five to six months with a length of five centimeters.

literature

  • Melanie Stiassny, Guy Teugels & Carl D. Hopkins: The Fresh and Brackish Water Fishes of Lower Guinea, West-Central Africa, Volume 1. ISBN 9789074752206 .
  • Günther Sterba : Freshwater fish of the world , Weltbild Verlag, Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-89350-991-7 .
  • Axel Zarske: Barbus callipterus. In: Claus Schaefer, Torsten Schröer (Hrsg.): The large lexicon of aquaristics. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-8001-7497-9 , p. 126 f.

Web links

Commons : Barbus callipterus  - Collection of images, videos and audio files