Species Profile
Protopterus annectens
African lungfish
KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassOsteichthyes
OrderUnknown
FamilyUnknown
Introduction
Protopterus annectens lives in freshwater swamps and rivers.
It survives dry seasons by aestivation.
Important example of air-breathing fish.
Size & Structure
01
Elongated eel-like body
02
Paired fins reduced to filaments
03
Thick mucus covering during aestivation
04
Brown or grey colour
Protopterus annectens — 3D Model
General Features
- Coelom
- Coelomate
- Body plan
- Tube within a tube body plan (Deuterostomous)
- Germ layer
- Triploblastic
- Metamerism
- Present (myotomes)
- Body symmetry
- Bilateral
- Fertilization
- External
- Digestion type
- Complete
- Nervous system
- Well developed brain and spinal cord
- Excretory organ
- Kidneys
- Body temperature
- Poikilothermic, stenohaline
- Circulatory type
- Closed circulation, incomplete double
- Development type
- Direct
- Respiratory type
- Branchial and pulmonary respiration
- Mode of excretion
- Ureotelism
- Circulation system
- Closed
- Skeleton structure
- Endoskeleton (partly cartilaginous)
- Level of Organisation
- Organ system level
- Regulation of Osmosis
- Osmoregulator
Ecology
Predator of small aquatic animals
Maintains freshwater food web
Survives extreme drought conditions
Economic Importance
Evolutionary biology studies
Educational importance
Research on lung development