Home › West African lungfish – Protopterus annectens
Taxonomy of West African lungfish
- Species: annectens
- Genus: Protopterus
- Family: Protopteridae (African lungfishes)
- Order: Lepidosireniformes (South American and African lungfishes)
- Class: Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fishes)
- Subphylum: Vertebrata
- Phylum: Chordata
- Kingdom: Animalia
Scientific name
Protopterus annectens (Peters, 1844)
Synonyms of Protopterus annectens
Lepidosiren annectens Owen, 1839
Protopterus annectens annectens (Owen, 1839)
Rhinocryptis annectens (Owen, 1839)
Protopterus annectans (Owen, 1839)
Protopterus anguilliformis Owen, 1841
Protopterus rhinocryptis Gray, 1850
Lepidosiren tobal Castelnau, 1855
Protopterus annectens brieni Poll, 1961
Subspecies in West African lungfish
P. a. annectens (Owen, 1839)
P. a. brieni Poll, 1961
Common names of Protopterus annectens
English: African lungfish, Lungfish, Mudfish, Tana lungfish, West African lungfish
French: –
Chinese: 非洲肺魚, 非洲肺鱼
German: Afrikanischer Lungenfisch, Westafrikanischer Lungenfisch
Russian: Buryi protopter
Arabic: –
Ecosystem
Freshwater; demersal; Tropical; potamodromous; temperature range: 25°C – 30°C; inhabits rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, swamps, mangroves, and floodplains; estivates in dry conditions;
The subspecies Protopterus annectens annectens is distributed in the large Sahelian basins, Comoé River, Bandama River, Senegal, Niger, Gambia, Volta and Chad basins;
The subspecies Protopterus annectens brieni is distributed in upper Congo River basin, Lake Rukwa, coastal plain of Mozambique, middle Zambezi Valley and Okavango basin;
Native countries
Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo;
Size range
maximum recorded length 100 cm; maximum published weight is 4.0 kg.
Feeding habits
lungfish essentially carnivorous; feeds on zoobenthos, fishes, worms, mollusks, shrimps, insects and insect larvae; it also feeds on plant material and roots;
Reproduction
dioecism; external fertilization; flood season; build nest and guard the eggs; paternal parental care; male aerates the water in the nest; The larvae hatch in eight days, and leave the nest in twenty days; newly hatched young have branched external gills;
Diseases
unknown;
Conservation Status
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC)
CITES status: Not Evaluated
Threat to humans: harmless
Reference: http://www.fishbase.org/summary/Protopterus-annectens
Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:G%C5%91tehal-2.jpg
Image author: Mathae | License: CC BY-SA 3.0
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