Jewelery pike
| Jewelery pike | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ornate pike ( Polypterus ornatipinnis ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Polypterus ornatipinnis | ||||||||||||
| Boulenger , 1902 |
The jewelery pike ( Polypterus ornatipinnis ) belongs to the genus of the real pike ( Polypterus )
features
Jewelery pike can reach a length of up to 46 centimeters. Their life expectancy can be up to 25 years. It is difficult to differentiate between the sexes, but the male's anal fin is larger and the female's head is wider.
ecology
Occurrence
It only occurs in Central and East Africa , u. a. in the upper and middle part of the Congo , but also in Lake Tanganyika . It can be found in stagnant or gently flowing water, where it spends the day in the shade of aquatic plants and hunts at night. The optimal water temperature for Polypterus ornatipinnis is between 26 and 28 ° C.
In the Red List of Threatened Animal Species of the IUCN , the red pike is not listed.
nutrition
Jeweled pike feed purely carnivorous , such as smaller fish, mussels and worms. In principle, however, everything that can be overwhelmed is accepted as prey. Polypteridae are shock predators. They “stalk” their prey by pushing themselves forward with their powerful pectoral fins or by swimming slowly and then stabbing. The eyes play a rather subordinate role when searching for food. The prey is found by "sniffing out" with the narines (tubular extensions of the nostrils).
literature
- Rüdiger Riehl , Hans A. Baensch : Aquariums Atlas. Mergus Verlag, Melle 1987, ISBN 3-88244-015-5 .
Web links
- Ornamental pike on Fishbase.org (English)
- www.das-tierlexikon.de
- www.whozoo.org
- www.infochembio.ethz.ch
- Polypterus ornatipinnis in the Red List of Threatened Species of the IUCN 2013.2. Posted by: Hanssens, M. & Moelants, T., 2009. Accessed December 1, 2013.