Ecology Summary - Protopterus aethiopicus

Language:

Main Ref.	Bailey, R.G., 1994
Remarks	Inhabits rivers and lake fringes, swamps and floodplains (Ref. 28714). Adults and sub-adults occur in open water but they prefer shallow inshore regions, especially the vicinity of swamps (Ref. 34291). Generally becomes more active during the last hours of the day, its activity increases at dusk and probably continues during the night. During the day, this fish regularly leaves its site to approach the surface in order to breathe. It breaks the surface with its large mouth, filling its lungs with air, then allows itself to sink down. Food search involves mud-digging on open bottoms and taking up mouthfuls of dirt and algae which are then spat out (Ref. 42701).

Main Ref.

Bailey, R.G., 1994

Remarks

Inhabits rivers and lake fringes, swamps and floodplains (Ref. 28714). Adults and sub-adults occur in open water but they prefer shallow inshore regions, especially the vicinity of swamps (Ref. 34291). Generally becomes more active during the last hours of the day, its activity increases at dusk and probably continues during the night. During the day, this fish regularly leaves its site to approach the surface in order to breathe. It breaks the surface with its large mouth, filling its lungs with air, then allows itself to sink down. Food search involves mud-digging on open bottoms and taking up mouthfuls of dirt and algae which are then spat out (Ref. 42701).

Aquatic zones / Water bodies

	Marine - Neritic	Marine - Oceanic	Brackishwater	Freshwater
Marine zones / Brackish and freshwater bodies	supra-littoral zone littoral zone sublittoral zone	epipelagic mesopelagic epipelagic abyssopelagic hadopelagic	estuaries/lagoons/brackish seas mangroves marshes/swamps	rivers/streams lakes/ponds caves exclusively in caves

Highighted items on the list are where Protopterus aethiopicus may be found.

Habitat

Substrate
Substrate Ref.
Special habitats	Beds: algae/seaweed;
Special habitats Ref.

Associations

Ref.
Associations
Associated with
Association remarks
Parasitism

Feeding

Feeding type	mainly animals (troph. 2.8 and up)
Feeding type Ref.	Witte, F. and W. de Winter, 1995
Feeding habit	hunting macrofauna (predator)
Feeding habit Ref.

Trophic Level(s)

Estimation method	Original sample		Unfished population		Remark
Estimation method	Troph	s.e.	Troph	s.e.	Remark
From diet composition	4.40	0.19	4.45	0.20	Troph of adults.
From individual food items	3.43	0.69			Trophic level estimated from a number of food items using a randomized resampling routine.
Ref.	Omondi, R., A.W. Yasindi and A.M. Magana, 2013

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