Spotted African Lungfish
The spotted African lungfish (Protopterus dolloi) is a slender, eel-like lungfish of the Congo basin, with tiny, whip-like paired fins. It lives in swamps, flooded forests and slow rivers.
The spotted African lungfish (Protopterus dolloi) is a slender, eel-like lungfish of the Congo basin, with tiny, whip-like paired fins. It lives in swamps, flooded forests and slow rivers.
🧬 Field Guide Specimen: Open Spotted African Lungfish in the CRV Science Field Guide to log the specimen, see its place among the Vertebrates lineages in the Cladogram Explorer, and test your recall in the Red List conservation game.
A Slimmer Lungfish
Compared with its stouter relatives, this lungfish is long and slender, with a small head and a spotted body. It moves through dense vegetation by wriggling and uses its thin fins to feel its surroundings.
Air Breathing and Aestivation
It comes to the surface to gulp air and, like other African lungfishes, can survive dry spells in a mud burrow. Its diet includes fish, snails and crustaceans.
Poorly Known
Little is known about its biology and it is rarely studied in the wild. See Marbled Lungfish.
Spotted African Lungfish at a Glance
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Scientific name | Protopterus dolloi |
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Class | Sarcopterygii |
| Subclass | Dipnoi |
| Order | Lepidosireniformes |
| Family | Protopteridae |
| Field Guide group | Marine and Freshwater Fish |
| Diagnostic feature (Field Guide) | Very slender dark-spotted eel-like fish with long filament fins; can survive months out of water sealed in a dried mucus cocoon. |
| IUCN Red List status | Least Concern (LC), assessed 2010 |
| Order | Lepidosireniformes |
| Fins | Thin and filamentous |