Description

Dorsal spines (total): 16 - 19; Dorsal soft rays (total): 9 - 12; Anal spines: 8 - 10; Anal soft rays: 9 - 12; Vertebrae: 25 - 27. Diagnosis: snout blunt; jaws weakly protrusible (ascending process of premaxilla short, not reaching anterior border of orbit); labyrinth composed of a more complex, folded plate; adults larger than 75 mm SL; body depth into SL usually fewer than 3 times; spot at base of caudal fin without pale ring in adults; lachrymal never serrated; flanks without faint mottling; scales in lower vertical series 10-11 (rarely 9); 5 scales from last pored scale in upper lateral line to dorsal-fin base (counting pored scale)(Ref. 57414).

Common Names

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Teleostei

Order: Anabantiformes

Family: Anabantidae

Genus: Ctenopoma

Species: Ctenopoma petherici Günther, 1864

Climate Zone

Location

• Africa: Senegal and Gambia rivers, entire Niger River drainage except lower Niger, Lake Chad drainage and coastal drainages in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo and Benin (Ref. 57414). Also reported from Gabon (Ref. 6803) and Nile basin (Ref. 6803, 28714).

Biology

Obligate air-breathing (Ref. 126274); Inhabits marginal vegetation, swamps, and floodplains. Browses on plant tissues with ostracods, dipteran larvae, beetles, mollusks and debris (Ref. 28714).

Habitat

benthopelagic

Conservation Status

Least Concern

Threat to Humans

Harmless