Pollimyrus adspersus (Günther, 1866)
Species overview
Small fish, body short and deep, head slightly longer than deep, snout blunt, rounded to truncate, mouth subterminal, caudal peduncle slender. -Body brown, uniform or dotted, first rays of dorsal and anal fin dark. Size observed: 87 mm SL.
P. adspersus(measurements)
Taxonomic description
-Body short, strongly laterally compressed, deep, body depth 31-37 % SL, greatest depth between pelvic and anal fin.
-Head length 24-29 % SL; head depth 23-26 % SL, 68-81 % body depth.
-Outline of back more or less straight, upper profile of head up to tip of snout strongly convex, underside of head convex or concave, outline of belly slightly convex, bases of unpaired fins steeply running to caudal peduncle.
-Snout rounded to truncate, short, feebly protruding mouth, 16-19 % head length, 23-35 % postorbital length.
-Mouth 16-20 % head length, subterminal, its edge below anterior rim of eye, upper jaw on a level with upper edge base of pectoral fin.
-Chin inconspicuous.
-Teeth small, notched 6-8/6-9.
-Nostrils separate, circular, distance between nostrils much wider than distance from eye, anterior nostril on a level with centre of eye, posterior nostril on a level with lower rim of lens; axis of nostrils cutting axis of head at an angle of about 40°.
-Eye diameter 17-26 head length, 30-41 % postorbital length.
-Opercular cleft S-shaped. 26-39 % head length, 28-41 % head depth.
-Dorsal fin 19-22 fin-rays, base of D 20-24 % SL, anal fin 24-29 rays, base of A 26-30 % SL, origin of D well behind origin of A, end of D before end of A; predorsal length 59-62 % SL, preanal length 54-59 % SL.
-Pectoral fin pointed, extending beyond tip of pelvic fin. V is much closer to P than to A.
-Caudal fin pointed, the scaled lobes rounded, about 1/5 as long as membranous lobes. 47-58 scales in lateral line; 12, rarely 14, round caudal peduncle.
-Caudal peduncle 18-22 % SL, its depth 5-7 % SL, 23-33 % its length.
-Coloration »West African specimens generally are dark brown or olive, head dotted blackish; first rays of dorsal and anal in most cases coloured; some may show at the base of dorsal and anal each a large , more or less distinct dark spot. The spots do not merge, but they come close at the flanks and look like the beginning of dark band as found in other genera of the mormyrids. Specimens from Cameroon and Congo basin do not have these markings, except for the coloured rays of the unpaired fins«.
Type locality
»West Africa«.
Distribution
Coastal districts from Togo to Nigeria and Cameroon; Congo basin, Democratic Republic of Congo.