Redeye barb facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Redeye barb |
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The redeye barb or Beira barb (Enteromius radiatus) is a common freshwater fish found across Africa. It lives in many places, from Uganda in the north all the way down to the Limpopo River and Incomati River systems in South Africa.
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About the Redeye Barb
The redeye barb is a small fish with fins that look salmon or orange. These fins have black edges. One of its most noticeable features is its bright red upper eye.
What Does It Look Like?
This fish has a special coloring called countershading. This means its back is dark, usually olive green, and its belly is light, silvery white. This helps it blend in with its surroundings from above and below.
Most redeye barbs have a dark stripe along their side. This stripe goes from their tail fin all the way to their nose. Sometimes, this stripe can be a bit hard to see.
If you look closely at the scales just above this stripe, you might see small spots. These spots create faint lines along the fish's body. These lines become clearer when the fish is preserved. The fish's head also has tiny sensory pits, which are like small bumps that help it sense its environment.
Size and Fins
The redeye barb has specific fin structures. Its dorsal fin (the one on its back) has 3 hard spines and 9 soft rays. Its anal fin (the one on its belly, near the tail) has 3 spines and 6 soft rays. The biggest redeye barb ever recorded was about 12.0 centimeters (about 4.7 inches) long.
Where the Redeye Barb Lives
The redeye barb is very flexible about where it lives. It can be found near the bottom of the water, in the middle, or even near the surface. It especially likes areas in rivers where there are lots of plants along the edges.
Different Habitats
You can also find redeye barbs in marshes and among the plants that grow along the edges of lakes. For example, in Eswatini, they have been seen in rock pools in the Komati River. In Lake Malawi, they live where the shoreline is rocky.
In the Lake Rukwa area, they are found in rivers that flow into the lake and in smaller water bodies nearby. In Lake Chiuta, they are quite common in the lake itself and in the slower parts of the streams that flow into it.
Movement and Activity
Some redeye barbs travel during different seasons. They are most active during twilight (dawn and dusk) and also at night, when the light is not too bright. Their main food source is small invertebrates, which are creatures without backbones, like insects or worms.
Scientific Classification
Scientists used to think there were three different types of redeye barb, called subspecies. However, one of these has now been identified as a completely separate species, called Enteromius profundus. The other two are now considered to be just different forms of the same species. This means the redeye barb is now seen as one species that can look a bit different from one fish to another.
