Elongate tigerfish facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Elongate tigerfish |
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The elongate tigerfish, also known as Hydrocynus forskahlii, is a cool fish that lives in the rivers and lakes of northern and western Africa. It's a type of predatory fish from the Alestidae family, known for being a fast swimmer and a skilled hunter.
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What Does the Elongate Tigerfish Look Like?
The elongate tigerfish has clear stripes along its body, making it easy to spot. It's a bit slimmer than other tigerfish species. Its body is usually about 22.6% of its total length, and its head is about 20% of its body length.
This fish has strong jaws with sharp teeth. It can have 9 to 14 teeth in its upper jaw and 8 to 12 in its lower jaw. Sometimes, its jaws are short and point upwards.
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Elongate tigerfish are usually bright, shiny silver. Their tail is often grayish, but the bottom part can have red, orange, or yellow colors.
Most of these fish are less than 30 centimeters (about 12 inches) long. However, some big ones can grow up to 45 centimeters (about 18 inches)! They usually weigh around 2.3 kilograms (about 5 pounds). The biggest one ever caught with a fishing rod weighed over 4 kilograms (about 9 pounds)!
Where Does the Elongate Tigerfish Live?
You can find the elongate tigerfish in many parts of central and western Africa. In central Africa, it lives in places like Lake Albert, Lake Turkana, and Lake Gandjule. It also swims in big rivers like the Congo River, Omo River, and the Nile.
In West Africa, it's found in the Chad Basin, Niger River, and Benue River. It also lives further west in the Senegal River and River Gambia. You can also spot them in rivers that flow into the ocean, like the Cross River, Wouri River, and Sanaga River.
What Kind of Home Does It Like?
The elongate tigerfish loves open water. It's a pelagic fish, which means it lives in the middle or upper layers of lakes and rivers, not usually near the bottom. It's also a potamodromous species, meaning it migrates (travels) within freshwater systems to different areas for things like spawning. It prefers surface waters that have plenty of oxygen.
How Does the Elongate Tigerfish Live?
We don't know a lot about the daily life of the elongate tigerfish. However, we do know it's a predator. For example, in Lake Kainji in Nigeria, smaller elongate tigerfish mostly eat tiny fish called clupeiforms. But the biggest tigerfish prefer to eat other characid fish, like the Alestes baremoze.
Another fish, the West African pike characin (Hepsetus odoe), avoids competing with the elongate tigerfish. It does this by living in the upper parts of rivers, where the elongate tigerfish is less common or not found at all. This helps both species find enough food without fighting over it.
Naming the Elongate Tigerfish
The name Hydrocynus comes from two Greek words: hydro, meaning water, and kyon, meaning dog. So, Hydrocynus means "water dog"! This is actually a direct translation of its Egyptian Arabic name, Kelb el bahr, which also means "water dog." It's a great name for a fish that's a fierce hunter!
The second part of its name, forskahlii, honors a Swedish explorer and naturalist named Peter Forsskål. He was a scientist who explored many parts of the world.
Why Is This Fish Important?
The elongate tigerfish is important for people in many areas. In Upper Egyptian Nile, people used to preserve it by salting it so it would last longer. Today, most salted tigerfish are imported from Sudan.
Even though tigerfish are not very common in the aquarium trade (meaning they aren't often kept as pets), the elongate tigerfish is the one you're most likely to see in a fish tank.
Because it's a valuable fish, many people try to catch it, which means it faces heavy fishing pressure. It's also threatened by things like dams, water pollution, taking too much groundwater, and droughts. These issues can make it harder for the elongate tigerfish to survive in its natural habitats.
