Wounded catfish
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Wound catfish ( Heterobranchus longifilis ) |
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| Heterobranchus longifilis | ||||||||||||
| Valenciennes , 1840 |
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The woundu catfish ( Heterobranchus longifilis ) (English vundu catfish or sharptooth catfish ) is one of the large catfish species in Africa and is also known locally as Cur, Lenda, Sampa, Ramboshi or Certa.
distribution
Wound jewels are native to all of Central Africa, in countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo , Republic of the Congo , Burundi , Tanzania and Uganda . In the south it is distributed as far as Zambia and Zimbabwe , in the north as far as Sudan and Egypt and its westernmost occurrence is found in Niger to Senegal .
features
The wound catfish is elongated, muscular, has a dark to olive brown upper side and mostly has light brown fins. The sides are a little lighter, the belly is white and sharply demarcated from the rest of the body. The dorsal and anal fins are gray-green with a dark or reddish border. The adipose fin is dark and black at the rear end. The caudal fin is broad and rounded. Gender differences are not known.
Fin formula : dorsal 25–35, anal 42–52, vertebra 55–61
Way of life
The animals are characterized by their particularly long and highly sensitive barbels, which enable them to live in dark and murky waters. Wound jewels can live outside of the water for a while and, under suitable environmental conditions, can live up to 12 years. They are up to 1.50 meters long and weigh about 55 kilograms. The predatory catfish are found in deep lakes and rivers such as the Congo, Nile, Niger and Benue rivers in West Africa. A large population of this type has developed in the Kariba reservoir on the Zambezi , in Lake Tanganyika and in Lake Eduard . They prefer to stay in deep places in the main stream or in deep, murky lakes with a high proportion of substrate. Wound jewels are nocturnal and, as omnivorous predators, eat fish, small animals and animal carcasses. In the vicinity of human settlements, they have become used to slaughterhouse waste being thrown into the water. In the Egyptian Lake Nasser , it has become a nuisance because it can destroy fishing nets and competes with fishermen for prey.
use
The owl is a food fish of local importance. In Nigeria, due to its rapid growth, it is used in pond farming and aquaculture and is fattened with soybean meal. There are research efforts to cross Clarias gariepinus with Heterobranchus longifilis and to combine their characteristics such as rapid growth with high environmental tolerance (see also Claresse ). Due to its weight and strength, it is also one of the popular sport fish in Africa. It is not very popular in aquariums because the animals only develop activity during feeding time.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f Wunduwels on Fishbase.org (English)
- ↑ VUNDU CATFISH ( Memento from May 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/4173/1/ja04020.pdf
- ↑ Growth performance of two African catfishes Clarias gariepinus and Heterobranchus longifilis and their hybrids in plastic aquaria at http://www.lrrd.org/lrrd22/2/atag22030.htm
literature
- Günther Sterba : Freshwater fish in the world. Weltbild, Augsburg 2002, ISBN 3-89350-991-7 , pp. 360–361.
Web links
- Photos of Wunduwelsen on: fishartist.com
- more photos from Wunduwelsen at: farm5.static.flickr.com
- Heterobranchus longifilis inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013.1. Posted by: Azeroual, A., Bills, R., Getahun, A., Hanssens, M., Kazembe, J., Marshall, B. & Moelants, T., 2009. Retrieved September 3, 2013.
