Spotted lungfish

Species of fish

Spotted lungfish

Conservation status

Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]

Scientific classification
Domain:  | Eukaryota
Kingdom:  | Animalia
Phylum:  | Chordata
Clade:  | Sarcopterygii
Class:  | Dipnoi
Order:  | Ceratodontiformes
Family:  | Protopteridae
Genus:  | Protopterus
Species:  |

P. dolloi

Binomial name
Protopterus dolloi

Boulenger, 1900[2][3]

The spotted lungfish or slender lungfish (Protopterus dolloi) is a species of lungfish from Middle Africa, where found in the Congo, Kouilou-Niari and Ogowe river basins.[1][3] It is one of four extant species in the genus Protopterus.

## Habitat

[edit]

The slender lungfish is a freshwater fish and it largely inhabits the middle and lower Congo River basin.[3] It is a primarily demersal fish, dwelling in the riverbeds of the above basins and in Stanley Pool.[3][1] During spawning season, females can be found in open water.[3][1]

## Biology

[edit]

The slender lungfish has an anguilliform body, much like an eel.[3] The body of the slender lungfish is generally brown; young of the species oftentimes have black spots throughout the body, however adults generally lose these spots as they age.[3] Like all African lungfish the slender lungfish is an obligate air-breather and is capable of aestivation; however, it generally does not aestivate.[3] When it does aestivate, the lungfish creates a dry mucus cocoon on land.[4] As most tropical fish are ammoniotelic, being on land can induce ammonia toxicity – with negative organismal and cellular level consequences – due to a lack of water to flush excreted ammonia from the gills and other cutaneous surfaces.[4] Studies have shown that the slender lungfish has evolved the ability to reduce endogenous ammonia production, as well as an ornithine-urea cycle to increase the conversion rate of ammonia to less toxic urea, to defend against this toxicity.[4][5]

## Reproduction

[edit]

Spotted lungfish nests are generally found in June through October.[1] During this time period the male makes a nest and buries it in mud, not unlike the marbled lungfish mating behavior.[1] He guards both eggs and larvae during this time.[3][1] The female does not take care of the young but rather during this time can be found open water in rivers within its range.[3]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f g Moelants, T. (2010). "Protopterus dolloi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2010: e.T183033A8036086. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-3.RLTS.T183033A8036086.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
2. ^ ITIS.gov
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2014). "Protopterus dolloi". FishBase.
4. ^ a b c Ip, Y. K.; Chew, S. F.; Randall, D. J. (2004). "Five Tropical Air‐Breathing Fishes, Six Different Strategies to Defend against Ammonia Toxicity on Land". Physiological and Biochemical Zoology. 77 (5): 768–782. doi:10.1086/422057. ISSN 1522-2152. JSTOR 10.1086/422057. PMID 15547795. S2CID 20545085.
5. ^ Wood, Chris M.; Walsh, Patrick J.; Chew, Shit F.; Ip, Yuen K. (2005). "Greatly Elevated Urea Excretion after Air Exposure Appears to Be Carrier Mediated in the Slender Lungfish (Protopterus dolloi)". Physiological and Biochemical Zoology. 78 (6): 893–907. doi:10.1086/432919. ISSN 1522-2152. JSTOR 10.1086/432919. PMID 16228929. S2CID 35160817.

## Further reading

[edit]

* [1]
* http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/reprint/207/5/777
* Fishman, A. P., Pack, A. I., Delaney, R. G. and Gallante, R. J. (1987). Estivation in Protopterus. In The Biology and Evolution of Lungfishes(ed.) W. E. Bemis, W. W. Burggren and N. E. Kemp), pp. 163–179. New York: Alan R. Liss, Inc.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Protopterus dolloi.

Taxon identifiers

Protopterus dolloi|

* Wikidata: Q2491582
* Wikispecies: Protopterus dolloi
* BioLib: 16185
* BOLD: 30461
* CoL: 4N6R8
* EoL: 214854
* FishBase: 8736
* GBIF: 2441259
* iNaturalist: 110713
* IRMNG: 10893147
* ITIS: 161047
* IUCN: 183033
* NCBI: 27779
* Open Tree of Life: 804486
* Plazi: 4B7EA960-E259-7A43-C72B-A7EE3E046501
* WoRMS: 1018957
* ZooBank: 8FBEBE47-4C02-4D71-9495-AD240CF20354