Notes: This is an aggressive predator. The males guard the newly hatched young up to 2 months. In the wild it eats s:"frogs" and small fish

Size: 6.5" when fully grown
Heart: 4 chambers
Lungs: breathes air when water dries up
Burrowing: in soft mud
¥ Lines its chamber with mucus and then curls up into it
¥ breathes through the mouth
¥ metabolic rate slows
¥ food is provided from the breakdown of muscle tissue
¥ This fish can survive up to a maximum of 4 years but usually only few months are necessary
Eggs: laid in nest
Newborn: larvae have external gills that are reabsorbed during metamorphosis
Habitat: swamps, small rivers
Range: West and South s:"Africa"


Kingdom: s:"Animalia"
Phylum: s:"Chordata"
Subphylum: s:"Vertebrata"
Class: s:"Sarcopterygii"
Subclass: s:"Dipnoi"
Order: s:"Lepidosireniformes"
Family: s:"Protopteridae"
Genus: s:"Protopterus"
Species: s:"Protopterus annectens"

(Owen, 1839)