Freshwater garfish facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Freshwater garfish |
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The Xenentodon cancila, also known as the freshwater garfish, is a type of needlefish. You can find it in fresh water and slightly salty water (called brackish water) across South and Southeast Asia.
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What are its common names?
This fish is quite popular for aquariums. Because of this, it has many different common names. Some people call it the needlefish, silver needlefish, Asian freshwater needlefish, or freshwater gar.
Even though it's called a "gar," it's not closely related to the North American gars. It belongs to the same family as the marine needlefish found in Europe, known as the gar or garpike (Belone belone). In Assam, India, people call it Kokila. In Sri Lanka, it's known as "Yonna" or "Habarali."
Where does the freshwater garfish live?
The freshwater garfish lives in many places across South and Southeast Asia. You can find it from India and Sri Lanka all the way to the Malaysian Peninsula.
What does the freshwater garfish look like?
Like other needlefish, this species has a long, thin body. It has a long, beak-like mouth filled with sharp teeth. Its back fin and belly fin are located far back on its body, close to its tail.
The fish is silvery-green in color. It's darker on top and lighter underneath. A dark stripe runs along its side. Male fish often have black edges on their back and belly fins. This fish can grow up to 40 centimeters (about 16 inches) long.
What does the freshwater garfish eat?
Many aquarium books say this fish eats other fish and frogs. However, in nature, it mostly eats small crustaceans. Crustaceans are like tiny shrimp or crabs.
Reproduction and life cycle
The freshwater garfish lays eggs. In aquariums, they usually lay eggs in the morning. They lay a small number of eggs among water plants. The eggs are about 3.5 millimeters (0.14 inches) wide. They stick to plant leaves with sticky threads that are about 20 millimeters (0.8 inches) long.
The eggs hatch after about ten days. When they hatch, the baby fish (called fry) are almost 12 millimeters (0.47 inches) long. At this point, they start eating tiny live foods.
How do humans interact with the freshwater garfish?
Freshwater needlefish are caught for small fisheries. They are also sold as popular aquarium fish.
Keeping them in an aquarium
The freshwater needlefish is one of several needlefish species kept in aquariums. People in Europe have kept them since 1910. The first time they were bred in captivity was in Austria in 1963.
Xenentodon cancila can be a bit tricky to keep. This is because they grow quite large and can be nervous. They also prefer to eat live foods. Some people used to think they needed salt in their water. However, these fish do perfectly well in regular freshwater aquariums.
See also
- Paracapillaria xenentodoni
