West African lungfish
| West African lungfish | ||||||||||||
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West African lungfish ( Protopterus annectens ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Protopterus annectens | ||||||||||||
| ( Owen , 1839) |
The West African lungfish ( Protopterus annectens ) occurs in West Africa from Senegal and Gambia to Niger and northeast to the headwaters of the eastern tributaries of the Shari in western Sudan . It was also proven in the Bandama and Comoé in the Ivory Coast and in the Volta in Ghana .
features
The West African lungfish reach a maximum length of one meter and a maximum weight of 4 kg. The body is elongated, round in cross section at the front and laterally flattened behind the pectoral fins. The pectoral and ventral fins are reduced to fleshy threads, as in all non-Australian lungfish. The long pectoral fins, the base of which is surrounded by fringes, can reach three times the length of the head. The pelvic fins reach twice the length of the head. The body is covered with small round scales that are embedded deep in the skin. 40 to 50 are counted in a longitudinal row from the gill cover to the anus, 36 to 40 in a row around the body in front of the dorsal fin. Adult West African lungfish also usually have two to three short, finger-shaped external gill tufts. The number of pairs of ribs is 34 to 37. The head length is 8.5 to 13% of the standard length. The eyes are small. Their diameter is 6.6 to 11% of the head length. West African lungfish are olive or brownish in color on the back, the sides of the body are lighter and patterned with irregular rows of dark dots. The belly is light, usually dirty yellowish and without spots. The filamentous, paired fins are also spotted. The channels of the sideline system are darkly contrasted with the basic color. Young fish are very dark, often almost black. The change in color to the lighter body color of the adult fish begins with a length of 16 to 20 cm.
Way of life
West African lungfish live in heavily overgrown oxbow lakes of rivers and streams and in nearby swamps filled with aquatic plants. If these waters dry out during the dry season, it survives in a self-made slime cocoon buried in the earth until the onset of the rainy season. If this does not happen for a year, it can last longer than a year. West African lungfish feed on u. a. of smaller fish, frogs and mollusks .
literature
- Günther Sterba : The world's freshwater fish. 2nd Edition. Urania, Leipzig / Jena / Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-332-00109-4 .
Web links
- West African lungfish on Fishbase.org (English)
- Protopterus annectens inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: Snoeks, J., Laleye, P. & Contreras-MacBeath, T., 2009. Retrieved September 4, 2013.