Brycinus imberi

Brycinus imberi

Brycinus imberi was described in 1852 by Peters. The species name imberi is not explained in the description. It is probably the local name “imberi” or “mberi” in central and southeastern Africa.

Description

With a total length of about 27 centimetres, Brycinus imberi is quite large. The colour is predominantly silver/grey. The caudal and anal fins tend to some yellow. A black spot is visible on the caudal peduncle. The adipose fin is usually light orange in colour.

Biotope

The habitat of Brycinus imberi is extensive. They occur in much of Africa. They typically inhabit shallow waters over sand or rocks. Sometimes also in places with vegetation, but that is less common.

Breeding Brycinus imberi

An adult Brycinus imberi female can lay up to 14,000 eggs.

In Lake Malawi, the eggs are mainly laid from November to February. This is the rainy season in this region. The young fish can grow to about 0.8 millimetres per day. As fish numbers in Lake Malawi have declined rapidly, local fish species are being looked at to breed for food. Brycinus imberi is one of the species they already catch for food. Due to their rapid growth rate, they are also suitable for breeding as food fish.

Video

Author

John de Lange

References

Fishbase
A note on the hatching period and growth in juvenile Brycinus imberi (Pisces: Alestiidae) in the shallow habitats of Lake Malawi – Shinsuke Morioka, Seiji Matsumoto 28-11-2008