Issue
Affinities: most similar to M. elongatus, from which it differs in the presence of multicuspid (vs conical, monocuspid) inner dentary teeth, inner premaxillary and outer dentary teeth with greater number of cusps and a slightly more robus body (Ref. 80290).
Environment: milieu / climate zone / distribuzione batimetrica / distribution range
Ecologia
; acqua dolce pelagico; pH range: 6.2 - 8.0; dH range: ? - 25; potamodromo (Ref. 51243). Tropical; 22°C - 26°C (Ref. 1672)
Africa: Congo, Okavango, Zambezi (Ref. 7248, 120641), Kunene and east coast rivers south to the Pongolo (Ref. 7248), Cross and Sanaga Rivers (Ref. 80290) and Tanzania (Ref. 4967). Nilo-Sudan and West-African reports of M. acutidens (e.g. Ref. 367, 51193) are misidentifications of M. elongatus (see DVD version of Ref. 81279; see also Ref. 2880).
Length at first maturity / Size / Peso / Age
Maturità: Lm 3.4 range ? - ? cm
Max length : 9.0 cm SL maschio/sesso non determinato; (Ref. 4967); peso massimo pubblicato: 2.00 g (Ref. 3799); Età massima riportata: 3.00 anni (Ref. 7248)
Spine dorsali (totale) : 0; Raggi dorsali molli (totale) : 10 - 11; Spine anali: 0; Raggi anali molli: 17 - 20. Diagnosis: inner dentary teeth multicuspid; 14-17 anal fin branched rays; dorsal fin apical tip black; scales of flank without melanophores concentrated along basal margin, pigment diffuse or absent (Ref. 80290).
Body shape (shape guide): fusiform / normal; Cross section: oval.
Shoals in clear, flowing or standing, open water; appears to co-exist with the tigerfish Hydrocynus forskalii in open water although it is heavily preyed upon by that predator, particularly those shoals of tigerfish ranging up to 45 cm in length (Ref. 13337). Omnivorous, often feeding from surface waters on winged insects; also takes insect larvae, crustaceans and eggs and fry of other fish (Ref. 13337). Matures after a year; partial spawner of moderate fecundity, with usually fewer than 700 eggs per female; shoals migrate upstream after first summer rains; breeds throughout the summer months; used as forage fish and as bait for tigerfish and pike (Ref. 7248).
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturità | Riproduzione | Deposizione | Uova | Fecundity | Larve
Skelton, P.H., 1993. A complete guide to the freshwater fishes of southern Africa. Southern Book Publishers. 388 p. (Ref. 7248)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-1)
Threat to humans
Harmless
Human uses
Pesca: di nessun interesse; Acquario: Commerciale; esca: usually
Strumenti
Special reports
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Fonti Internet
Estimates based on models
Phylogenetic diversity index (Fonte Biblio.
82804): PD
50 = 0.5000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01148 (0.00636 - 0.02074), b=3.11 (2.95 - 3.27), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & (Sub)family-body (Ref.
93245).
Trophic level (Fonte Biblio.
69278): 2.9 ±0.33 se; based on food items.
Generation time: 1.8 ( na - na) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 2
growth studies.
Resilienza (Fonte Biblio.
120179): Alto, tempo minimo di raddoppiamento della popolazione meno di 15 mesi (K=0.63; tmax=3).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref.
59153): Low vulnerability (23 of 100).
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