Brycinus macrolepidotus, True big-scale tetra : fisheries

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Brycinus macrolepidotus Valenciennes, 1850

True big-scale tetra
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Brycinus macrolepidotus
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Characiformes (Characins) > Alestidae (African tetras)
Etymology: Brycinus: Greek, ebrykon, brykomai = to bite, to gnaw (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Valenciennes.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Freshwater; brackish; pelagic; potamodromous (Ref. 51243). Tropical; 22°C - 28°C (Ref. 12468)

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Africa: present throughout intertropical Africa (Ref. 2880, 80290, 81279). Absence from the Gambia basin is noteworthy (Ref. 81279). Present in the Nile system (Ref. 28714, 58460) up to Lake Albert (Ref. 4903) and in Lake Turkana system (Ref. 28663). Widely distributed in the Congo River basin (Ref. 5331, 42019, 42510, 45434).

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 18.5, range 33 - ? cm
Max length : 53.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 2880); max. published weight: 2.0 kg (Ref. 3799)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 13 - 19. Diagnosis: fronto-parietal fontanel absent in adults, sometimes pore-like in juveniles; snout long, comprimised 3x in head length; dorsal fin origin distinctly behind pelvic fin insertion; adults large-sized; no sexual dimorphism affecting anal fin shape; 21-31 lateral line scales; 4.5 scales between lateral line and dorsal fin; 10-16 anal fin branched rays; 14-22 gill rakers on lower limb of first gill arch; 8-14 teeth in outer premaxillary row (Ref. 2880, 80290, 81279). Head length/snout length 2.6-2.9; 10-12 predorsal scales (Ref. 80290). Body depth more than 3x SL in adults (Ref. 2880, 81279).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

More common in rivers than lakes; feeds on insects, crustaceans, fish, vegetation and debris (Ref. 28714). Considering the distribution of different forms (according to collection determinations), it should be noted that a B. macrolepidotus 'form' is found only in northern regions, while a B. schoutedi 'form' is found only in southern regions. However, between these two forms there appears to be mixing and intermediacy of forms. We consider that there are several populations which have evolved in a geographical gradient to produce different morphotypes of a single species (Ref. 80290).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Paugy, D. and S.A. Schaefer, 2007. Alestidae. p. 347-411. In M.L.J. Stiassny, G.G. Teugels and C.D. Hopkins (eds.) Poissons d'eaux douces et saumâtres de basse Guinée, ouest de l'Afrique centrale/The fresh and brackish water fishes of Lower Guinea, west-central Africa. Vol. 1. Coll. Faune et Flore tropicales 42. Istitut de recherche pour le développement, Paris, France, Muséum nationale d'histoire naturelle, Paris, France and Musée royale de l'Afrique centrale, Tervuren, Belgique. 800 p. (Ref. 80290)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 16 April 2019

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: commercial
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

More information

Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
Stocks
Ecology
Diet
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Food consumption
Ration
Common names
Synonyms
Metabolism
Predators
Ecotoxicology
Reproduction
Maturity
Spawning
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Fecundity
Eggs
Egg development
Age/Size
Growth
Length-weight
Length-length
Length-frequencies
Morphometrics
Morphology
Larvae
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Abundance
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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoobank | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01072 (0.00804 - 0.01428), b=2.97 (2.92 - 3.02), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  2.8   ±0.35 se; based on food items.
Generation time: 2.4 ( na - na) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 1 growth studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Low to moderate vulnerability (31 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Unknown.