Petrocephalus catostoma haullevillei Boulenger, 1912
Species overview
Small fish, body moderately deep, head as long as body depth, snout strongly curved, rather pointed, mouth inferior. Head without aggregations, of cutaneous sensory organs. Caudal peduncle rather long and deep. Body speckled, first rays of unpaired fins darker.
Size observed: 64 mm SL.
P. cat. haulle.(measurements)1
P. cat. haulle.(measurements)2
Taxonomic description
-Body moderately short and deep, strongly laterally compressed, body depth 24-33 % SL, greatest depth above origin of anal fin.
-Head length 23-30 % SL; head depth 20-26 % SL, 70-84 % body depth.
-Outlines of back and of belly slightly convex, upper profile and underside of head convex; base of dorsal fin running less steeply toward caudal peduncle than base of anal.
-Snout rounded, short, 13-21 % head length, 19-33 % postorbital length.
-Mouth width, 19-33 % head length, inferior, its edge below centre of eye, upper jaw on a level with lower edge base of pectoral fin.
-Chin without appendage, inconspicuous.
-Teeth notched, 11-14/16-18.
-Nostrils upright-oval, closely together, about as far away from each other than from eye, on a level with lower rim of the lens; axis parallel axis of head.
-Eye diameter 13-21 % head length, 19-35 % postorbital length. No aggregations of electrorecpetors on the head. Opercular cleft curved, 25-45 % head length, 31-50 % head depth.
-Dorsal fin 18-20 fin-rays, base of D 16-19 % SL, anal fin 27-29 rays, base of A 23-28 % SL, origin of D well behind origin of A, end of D more or less opposite end of A; predorsal length 59-65 % SL, preanal length 52-60 % SL.
-Pectoral fin pointed, extending to middle of pelvic fin. V is closer to P than to A.
-Caudal fin pointed, scaled at base. 32-35 scales in lateral line; 12 round caudal peduncle.
-Caudal peduncle 18-23 % SL , its depth 7-8 % SL, 30-46 % its length.
-Coloration »Silvery, speckled with black, the specks more crowded on the head and back; dorsal and anal whitish, brown anteriorly«.
Type locality
»Chiloango à Mayilli, Luali à Lundo et dans la Luculla« Bas-Congo. Congo Brazzaville.
Distribution
»Congo and Niari-Kouilou basins«.(Niari-Kouilou, 3° 56 ‘ S 12° 12 ‘ E) Congo Brazzaville.
Remark
Museum collections are heterogeneous, some specimens do have »rosettes«, data presented here only of specimens without particular aggregations of electroreceptors on the head. The taxon may belong into Pollimyrus because the nostrils are not as closely together as in Petrocephalus but further apart from each other than from rim of eye, as typical in Pollimyrus. The shape of the opercular cleft also is not typical for Petrocephalus, as is the absence of rosettes.