Taxonomic Remarks
Affinities: most similar to M. elongatus, from which it differs in the presence of multicuspid (vs conical, monocuspid) inner dentary teeth, inner premaxillary and outer dentary teeth with greater number of cusps and a slightly more robus body (Ref. 80290).
Environnement : milieu / zone climatique / profondeur / gamme de distribution
Écologie
; eau douce pélagique; pH range: 6.2 - 8.0; dH range: ? - 25; potamodrome (Ref. 51243). Tropical; 22°C - 26°C (Ref. 1672)
Africa: Congo, Okavango, Zambezi (Ref. 7248, 120641), Kunene and east coast rivers south to the Pongolo (Ref. 7248), Cross and Sanaga Rivers (Ref. 80290) and Tanzania (Ref. 4967). Nilo-Sudan and West-African reports of M. acutidens (e.g. Ref. 367, 51193) are misidentifications of M. elongatus (see DVD version of Ref. 81279; see also Ref. 2880).
Longueur à la première maturité / Taille / Poids / Âge
Maturité: Lm 3.4  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 9.0 cm SL mâle / non sexé; (Ref. 4967); poids max. publié: 2.00 g (Ref. 3799); âge max. reporté: 3.00 années (Ref. 7248)
Épines dorsales (Total) : 0; Rayons mous dorsaux (Total) : 10 - 11; Épines anales: 0; Rayons mous anaux: 17 - 20. Diagnosis: inner dentary teeth multicuspid; 14-17 anal fin branched rays; dorsal fin apical tip black; scales of flank without melanophores concentrated along basal margin, pigment diffuse or absent (Ref. 80290).
Body shape (shape guide): fusiform / normal; Cross section: oval.
Shoals in clear, flowing or standing, open water; appears to co-exist with the tigerfish Hydrocynus forskalii in open water although it is heavily preyed upon by that predator, particularly those shoals of tigerfish ranging up to 45 cm in length (Ref. 13337). Omnivorous, often feeding from surface waters on winged insects; also takes insect larvae, crustaceans and eggs and fry of other fish (Ref. 13337). Matures after a year; partial spawner of moderate fecundity, with usually fewer than 700 eggs per female; shoals migrate upstream after first summer rains; breeds throughout the summer months; used as forage fish and as bait for tigerfish and pike (Ref. 7248).
Cycle de vie et comportement reproducteur
Maturité | Reproduction | Frai | Œufs | Fécondité | Larves
Skelton, P.H., 1993. A complete guide to the freshwater fishes of southern Africa. Southern Book Publishers. 388 p. (Ref. 7248)
Statut dans la liste rouge de l'IUCN (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-2 (Global))
Menace pour l'homme
Harmless
Utilisations par l'homme
Pêcheries: sans intérêt; Aquarium: Commercial; appât: usually
Outils
Articles particuliers
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Sources Internet
Estimations basées sur des modèles
Indice de diversité phylogénétique (Réf.
82804): PD
50 = 0.5000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01148 (0.00633 - 0.02083), b=3.11 (2.95 - 3.27), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & (Sub)family-body (Ref.
93245).
Niveau trophique (Réf.
69278): 2.9 ±0.33 se; based on food items.
Generation time: 1.8 ( na - na) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 2
growth studies.
Résilience (Réf.
120179): Haut, temps minimum de doublement de population inférieur à 15 mois (K=0.63; tmax=3).
Vulnérabilité de la pêche (Ref.
59153): Low vulnerability (23 of 100).
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