n.
[Native name.]
(Zoöl.) A remarkable ganoid fish (Polypterus bichir) found in the Nile and other African rivers. See
bichir
| Dictionary: Bi·chir |
n.
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| Animal Encyclopedia: Bichir |
Polypterus ornatipinnis
FAMILY
Polypteridae
TAXONOMY
Polypterus ornatipinnis Boulenger, 1902, Congo River.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
None known.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Maximum length 23.6 in (60 cm). Body protected by an armor of large, rhombic, bony scales. Moderately elongate, with nine to 10 independent dorsal finlets. Pelvic fins located posteriorly. White belly with dark mottling on head, flanks and dorsum, with continuous parallel bands on fins.
DISTRIBUTION
Central and East Africa, found in the Congo Basin and in Lake Tanganyika.
HABITAT
Lakes, rivers, floodplains, and swamps, including waters with low oxygen content.
BEHAVIOR
Often sits motionless on the bottom, resting on its pectoral fins such that the head and anterior portion of the body are slightly elevated. Periodically gulps air from the surface in stagnant water.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Carnivorous; feed mostly at night on a variety of prey, including other fishes, frogs, insects, and crustaceans.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
During courtship, their usual inactivity is abandoned, and both male and female engage in energetic twisting, turning, and darting movements. The male subsequently envelops the female's genital opening with his anal and caudal fin, fertilizing the eggs and then scattering them by thrashing his tail.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not listed by IUCN.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
Found in markets as a food fish; also captured for the aquarium trade.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: bichir |
bichir (bĭch'ər), common name for African freshwater fishes as of the family Polypteridae, and particularly for those of the genus Polypterus. Bichirs are among the most primitive of the ray-finned fishes, or Actinopterygii, the dominant group of modern fishes. The long, narrow body of Polypterus is 2 to 3 ft (60-90 cm) long and is covered by thick, rhombic scales made of an enamellike substance called ganoine. Such scales were also present in the earliest ray-finned fishes, now extinct, and are quite different from those of other living fishes. The dorsal fin of the bichir is split into a row of small, saillike finlets that are erected when the animal is agitated. Like the sharks and the rays, it has a pair of spiracles. The bichir seems especially adapted to life in dry environments. Instead of the swim bladder of most ray-finned fishes, it has a pair of lungs, somewhat like those of the lungfishes, which enables it to survive out of water for several hours. It also resembles the lungfishes in having a pair of external gills when newly hatched. The bichir is a bottom-dwelling fish, found in the Nile and in the rivers of W Africa. When these rivers overflow in late summer, it moves out to spawn in the flood marshes. It is sometimes caught as a food fish. In addition to the ten species of Polypterus, the bichir family includes the reedfish, Erpetoichthys calabaricus, similar in character and distribution, but with a longer, more eellike form. Bichirs are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Osteichthyes, order Polypteriformes, family Polypteridae.
| Wikipedia: Bichir |
For the Lebanese-Mexican family, see Bichir family.
| Bichirs Fossil range: Cretaceous–Recent [1] |
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The bichirs are a family, Polypteridae, of archaic-looking ray-finned fishes, the sole family in the order Polypteriformes.
All species occur in freshwater habitats in tropical Africa and the Nile River system, mainly swampy, shallow floodplains and estuaries.
Contents |
Anatomy and appearance
Bichirs are elongated fish with a distinctive series of up to fifteen dorsal finlets, instead of a single dorsal fin. Each of these finlets have a sharp spine. The body is covered in thick, bonelike, ganoid scales. Their jaw structure more closely resembles that of the tetrapods than that of the teleost fishes. Bichirs have a number of other primitive characteristics, including fleshy pectoral fins superficially similar to those of lobe-finned fishes.[1] They also have spiracles.
Bichirs have rudimentary lungs, which allow them to obtain oxygen from the air when in poorly oxygenated waters[2], by swimming quickly to the surface and back to the bottom. They are nocturnal, and feed on small vertebrates, crustaceans, and insects.[1]
Bichirs have a maximum body length of 97 centimetres (3.2 ft), although many species do not exceed 35 centimetres (1.1 ft).[3]
Relationship to humans
Bichirs are popular subjects of public and large hobby aquaria. Though predatory, they are otherwise peaceful and relatively nonactive, preferring to lie on the bottom, and make good tankmates with other species that are large enough not to be prey. Some aquarists note that Loricariid catfish and common plecs may attack bichirs and suck on their skin.
Species
There are twelve extant species in two genera:[3]
Order Polypteriformes
- Family Polypteridae
- Genus Erpetoichthys
- Reedfish, Erpetoichthys calabaricus Smith, 1865.
- Genus Polypterus
Polypterus ornatipinnis
- Guinean bichir, Polypterus ansorgii Boulenger, 1910.
- Polypterus bichir
- Nile bichir, Polypterus bichir bichir Lacépède, 1803.
- Polypterus bichir katangae Poll, 1941.
- Polypterus bichir lapradei Steindachner, 1869.
- Barred bichir, Polypterus delhezi Boulenger, 1899.
- Polypterus enlicheri
- Polypterus endlicheri congicus Boulenger, 1898.
- Saddled bichir, Polypterus endlicheri endlicheri Heckel, 1847.
- Polypterus mokelembembe Schliewen & Schafer, 2006.[4]
- Ornate bichir, Polypterus ornatipinnis Boulenger, 1902.
- Polypterus palmas
- Polypterus palmas buettikoferi Steindachner, 1891.
- Shortfin bichir, Polypterus palmas palmas Ayres, 1850.
- Polypterus palmas polli Gosse, 1988.
- West African bichir, Polypterus retropinnis Vaillant, 1899.
- Polypterus senegalus
- Polypterus senegalus meridionalis Poll, 1941.
- Gray bichir, Polypterus senegalus senegalus Cuvier, 1829.
- Polypterus teugelsi Britz, 2004.
- Mottled bichir, Polypterus weeksii Boulenger, 1898.
- Genus Erpetoichthys
Extinct species include:
References
- ^ a b c Wiley, Edward G. (1998). Paxton, J.R. & Eschmeyer, W.N.. ed. Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 75–76. ISBN 0-12-547665-5.
- ^ Berra, Tim M. (2001). Freshwater Fish Distribution. San Diego: Academic Press. ISBN 0-12-093156-7
- ^ a b "XXXidae". FishBase. Ed. Rainer Froese and Daniel Pauly. January 2009 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2009.
- ^ Schliewen & Schafer (2006). "Polypterus mokelembembe, a new species of bichir from the central Congo River basin (Actinopterygii: Cladistia: Polypteridae).". Zootaxa 1129: 23. http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2006f/z01129p036f.pdf.
- ^ Otero, Likius, Vignaud & Brunet (2006). "A new polypterid fish: Polypterus faraou sp. nov. (Cladistia, Polypteridae) from the Late Miocene, Toros-Menalla, Chad". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 146 (2): 227. doi:.
External links
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 | Dictionary. Webster 1913 Dictionary edited by Patrick J. Cassidy Read more |
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- Ciudades Oscuras (2002 Drama Film)
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