Description

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 7 - 8; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 9 - 10; Vertebrae: 35 - 36. Diagnosis: very small and larval in appearance; body elongate, laterally compressed, shallow (body depth 17.9-20.0% SL in females and 15.2-17.9% SL in males); scaleless; head small (head length 18.0-22.7% SL), with small, terminal mouth and large eyes; teeth absent; interorbital distance narrow (11.9-12.9% HL); gill opening short and located above pectoral fin; pectoral fins positioned ventrally and often splayed out from the body in preserved specimens; caudal peduncle long, with keels of transparent tissue, apparently anterior extensions of caudal fin membrane, reaching forward on both dorsal and ventral edge (ventral extension is more developed); caudal fin forked, with 16 rays, including an unbranched ray on dorsal and ventral edge; fin spines lacking; 2 branchiostegal rays; body semi-translucent, with myomeres clearly visible; lateral line absent; epibranchial organ reduced or absent (Ref. 81636).

Common Names

No common names available.

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Teleostei

Order: Gonorynchiformes

Family: Kneriidae

Genus: Grasseichthys

Species: Grasseichthys gabonensis Géry, 1964

Climate Zone

Location

Biology

Open water species, not burrying in sand; forms schools; spawns during the raining season, during which it may be very abundant, forming aggregations in open water areas in the swamps; females of 20-24mm carry about 40 round, ripe eggs of about 0.4mm diameter; males mature at a size of about 18mm total length (Ref. 91379).

Habitat

benthopelagic