Marcusenius macrolepidotus, Bulldog : gamefish, aquarium

You can sponsor this page

Marcusenius macrolepidotus (Peters, 1852)

Bulldog
Upload your photos and videos
Pictures | Google image
Image of Marcusenius macrolepidotus (Bulldog)
Marcusenius macrolepidotus
Picture by Gratwicke, B.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Osteoglossiformes (Bony tongues) > Mormyridae (Elephantfishes)
Etymology: Marcusenius: Becasue of J. Marcusen, author of "Zur Phauna des Schwarzen Meeres", 1867; ichthyologist.
More on author: Peters.

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

Freshwater; demersal; pH range: 7.0 - ? ; dH range: 10 - ?; potamodromous (Ref. 51243). Tropical; 22°C - 24°C (Ref. 12468); 20°S - 31°S

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

Africa: Lower Zambezi River from the delta upstream to at least Tete, if not Victoria Falls, and the lower Shire River; also Pungwe, Buzi and Mulela Rivers (Ref. 75962). Also upper and central Congo basin (Ref. 3203, 95585), Lake Rukwa basin (Ref. 95585), and east flowing rivers of Tanzania and Natal (Ref. 3203). Widespread and common in the Cunene and Okavango systems (Ref. 7248). Reports from Pool Malebo (Ref. 41585), the middle Congo River (Ref. 4910) and the Lulua (Kasai drainage)(Ref. 42554) possibly refer to M. angolensis.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 13.0  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 32.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 27292); max. published weight: 500.00 g (Ref. 7248)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 20-24; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 26 - 31. Diagnosis: Marcusenius macrolepidotus is best distinguished from M. altisambesi by the number of circumpeduncular scales, which is 12-18 vs. 12-14, and an electric organ discharge lacking an initial head-negativity; from M. devosi by the number of scales in linear series along the lateral line row, which is 52-62 vs. 56-66, shorter caudal peduncle length, and weaker Namp of its electric organ discharge; from M. pongolensis by the number of scales in linear series along the lateral line row, which is 52-62 vs. 70-76, the umber of circumpeduncular scales, which is 12-18 vs. 16-20, a greater body depth, and longer Ndur of its electric organ discharge in females and juveniles; and from M. angolensis by its lower number of anal fin rays, being less than 31 vs. 33, and dorsal fin rays, being less than 24 vs. 26, and a higher number of circumpeduncular scales (Ref. 75962).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Caught with dipnets in the Kafue floodplain, Zambia. Prefers well-vegetated, muddy bottomed marginal habitats of rivers and floodplains. A shoaling species which moves inshore after dark. Migrates within rivers. Recorded to move up tributaries in shoals during flood season (Ref. 13337). Feeds on invertebrates, especially midge and mayfly larvae and pupae taken from the bottom and off plant stems. Breeds during the rainy season in shallow vegetated localities; females carry up to 6,000 eggs (Ref. 7248). Possesses electroreceptors over the entire head and on the ventral and dorsal regions of the body, but absent from the side and the caudal peduncle where the electric organ is located (Ref. 10011).

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

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Gosse, J.-P., 1984. Mormyridae. p. 63-122. In J. Daget, J.-P. Gosse and D.F.E. Thys van den Audenaerde (eds.) Check-list of the freshwater fishes of Africa (CLOFFA). ORSTOM, Paris and MRAC, Tervuren. Vol. 1. (Ref. 3203)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 19 June 2018

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Gamefish: yes; aquarium: commercial
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

More information

Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
Stocks
Ecology
Diet
Food items
Food consumption
Ration
Common names
Synonyms
Metabolism
Predators
Ecotoxicology
Reproduction
Maturity
Spawning
Spawning aggregation
Fecundity
Eggs
Egg development
Age/Size
Growth
Length-weight
Length-length
Length-frequencies
Morphometrics
Morphology
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Recruitment
Abundance
BRUVS
References
Aquaculture
Aquaculture profile
Strains
Genetics
Electrophoreses
Heritability
Diseases
Processing
Nutrients
Mass conversion
Collaborators
Pictures
Stamps, Coins Misc.
Sounds
Ciguatera
Speed
Swim. type
Gill area
Otoliths
Brains
Vision

Tools

Special reports

Download XML

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 | Public aquariums | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | 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=0.01318 (0.00785 - 0.02215), b=2.89 (2.75 - 3.03), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & Genus-body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.2   ±0.2 se; based on diet studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (K=0.7-1.1).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Low vulnerability (22 of 100).
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 202 [101, 487] mg/100g; Iron = 1.82 [0.84, 3.76] mg/100g; Protein = 17.8 [15.4, 20.1] %; Omega3 = 0.562 [0.221, 1.457] g/100g; Selenium = 80.1 [29.1, 221.7] μg/100g; VitaminA = 28.3 [10.5, 77.6] μg/100g; Zinc = 1.74 [1.12, 3.45] mg/100g (wet weight);