Fish Codexery

Bichir

Archaic ray-finned fishes with lungs and dorsal finlets.

Last updated

Bichir

via Wikipedia: Bichir · Public domain

Bichirs and the reedfish are the only living members of the family Polypteridae, which belongs to the order Polypteriformes.[1] The family contains two living genera, Polypterus and Erpetoichthys, with 14 extant species.[2] The group Cladistia, which includes polypterids and their extinct relatives, is regarded as the sister lineage to all other living ray-finned fishes (Actinopteri), with an estimated divergence from Actinopteri occurring no later than 330 million years ago.[3]

Scientific classification

  1. KingdomAnimalia
  2. PhylumChordata
  3. ClassActinopterygii
  4. OrderPolypteriformes
  5. FamilyPolypteridae

Named by Bonaparte, 1835

Sources: Wikipedia taxobox: Bichir (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Quick Facts

Type species
Polypterus bichir

Facts from the source article.

Biology and range

The family is restricted to freshwater environments.[4] A covering of thick, rhombic ganoid scales protects the body.[5] The pectoral fins of bichirs are fleshy and bear a superficial resemblance to those found in lobe-finned fishes.[5] When the water they inhabit has low oxygen levels, polypterids engage in facultative air-breathing by accessing air at the surface.[6]

What the specialist sources record

The aquatic community website "Breeding Bichirs" notes that male bichirs have a considerably broader anal fin than females, and that only mature individuals can be sexed this way.[7] The same source states that a female bichir deposits 100 to 300 eggs over several days, with each batch fertilized by the male cupping his anal and caudal fins around her genital area.[7] Bichir eggs are 2–3 millimeters in diameter and slightly adhesive.[7] The fry hatch with external gills, and older fry can be cannibalistic toward smaller ones.[7]

A 2022 study by Bakaev revisited the histology of fin rays in Polypterus senegalus.[8] GBIF holds 4,631 occurrence records for the family Polypteridae as of October 2026.[9]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Bichir" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Helfman GS, Collette BB, Facey DE, Bowen BW. 2009. The Diversity of Fishes. West Sussex, UK: Blackwell Publishing. 720 p. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Bichir" (CC BY-SA 4.0) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Bichir" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Suzuki, "The mitochondrial phylogeny of an ancient lineage of ray-finned fishes (Polypteridae) with implications for the evolution of body elongation, pelvic fin loss, and craniofacial morphology in Osteichthyes", BMC Ev; Dai Suzuki, Matthew C. Brandley, Masayoshi Tokita: CORRECTION: The mitochondrial phylogeny of an ancient lineage of ray-finned fishes (Polypteridae) with implic (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. World Register of Marine Species, Polypteridae (AphiaID 154639). CC BY 4.0. marinespecies.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Bichir" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Wiley, Edward G., "Encyclopedia of Fishes", Academic Press, 1998, p. 75–76; Graham, "Spiracular air breathing in polypterid fishes and its implications for aerial respiration in stem tetrapods", Nature Communications, 2014, p. 3022; Berra, Tim M. (2001). Freshwater Fish Distribution. San Diego: Academic Press. (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Bichir" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Graham, J.B. 1997. Air-breathing Fishes: Evolution, diversity, and adaptation. San Diego: Academic Press. 299 p. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. "Breeding Bichirs", www.aquaticcommunity.com. facts only, no text reused. aquaticcommunity.com
  8. Bakaev, "Squamation of the Permian actinopterygian Toyemia Minich, 1990: evenkiid (Scanilepiformes) affinities and implications for the origin of polypteroid scales", www.geology.cz, 2022. facts only, no text reused. geology.cz
  9. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and occurrence index, Polypteridae (taxon key 5087). CC BY 4.0 (backbone); counts are facts. gbif.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Bichir (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

Related entries

Named in this entry

Nile

More in Fish

CarpCatfishCichlidCoral reef fishCyprinodontiformesDeep-sea fishElectric eelElectric rayEuropean seabassFlatfishFlying fishGill

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

Spotted an error? Know more?

Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced

Comments

Loading…
Open in the interactive codex →