The Spotted Gar (Lepisosteus oculatus) is a living fossil. Gars live on earth since about 145 million years. Nowadays 7 species still exist, all native to North- and Central America. Gars are predators. They can survive in oxygen-poor waters due a primitive lung that enables them to breath air additionally to the gill breathing. So […]
Napoleon Bonaparte was leader of a campaign through Egypt in the years 1798-1801. He was followed by 169 scientists, among them the zoologist Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire. After the return to France, Saint-Hilaire described a very strange species of fish he collected in the Nile river in Egypt under the (vernacular) name of Polyptère bichir. The […]
The Cross river in Western Africa is a legendary river. The course of the river starts in Cameroon, the lower part flows through Nigeria. The river is famous for its high degree of endemic species; „endemic“ means that the species occurs only there and nowhere else. Among the endemic species are for example Tetraodon pustulatus […]
We received once more from Guinea the comparatively small (20-25 cm) and very pretty Polypterus palmas. Currently our fish are 10-12 cm long. Formerly the species has been splitted in several subspecies, but this seems not to reflect the real situation. Two of these subspecies have been recorded from Guinea, namely P. p. palmas and […]
The Alligator gars are so-called living fossils. They developed about 100 million years ago in the upper Cretaceous and haven´t changed much since then. Currently two genera live in the New World, namely Atractosteus (containing three species) and Lepisosteus (four species). The members of Atractosteus can reach about 2 m in length (formerly they are […]
Finally we were able to import again Phractolaemus ansorgii. The last importation was years ago. Sadly the fish are sold out already, but we nevertheless want to show you the interesting animals. Formerly we obtained these fish from Nigeria, this time they originate from the Congo. In our current import obviously two colour morphs appear, […]
This large species – sexual maturity is reached at about 40 cm length, but the species can grow as big as 70 cm – originates from Africa. Her it has a fairly wide distribution, from the Nile to the Niger. But it is difficult to catch, so the fish were rather high in prize. Now […]
Finally – we tried many years without any success – we managed to import a good number of this “living fossil” from the USA. Once there was a time when relatives of this species lived allmost all over the World, even in Europe several species existed. These creatures were already existent when the dinosaurs walked […]
Four specimens – gorgeous animals, which are 15 – 20 cm long – of this “living fossil” reached us recently. Once there was a time when relatives of this species lived allmost all over the World, even in Europe several species existed. These creatures were already existent when the dinosaurs walked around. However, nowadays only […]
After quite a long time we were able now to import again one of the smallest species of Polypterus, namely Polypterus retropinnis from the Congo. This bichir has been thought to represent an undescribed species for a while, but then it was found that it has been confused with the only recently described species Polypterus […]