Teleostei (teleosts) >
Characiformes (Characins) >
Alestidae (African tetras)
Etymology: Hydrocynus: Greek, hydr = water + Greek, kyon = dog (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Günther.
Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Ecology
Freshwater; pelagic; potamodromous (Ref. 51243). Tropical
Africa: only in Sahelo-Sudanese river basins (Ref. 81279), including the Nile, Chad basin, Niger, Volta, Senegal and Gambia (Ref. 2880, 5331).
Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 86.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 3799); max. published weight: 8.3 kg (Ref. 2880)
Diagnosis: eye <60% of interorbital space; massive profile specially on anterior part (Ref. 2880, 81279). Three scale rows between lateral line and scaly process at pelvic-fin bases; rakers of first gill arch poorly developed; snout-dorsal fin length/snout-ventral fins length different from one; adipose fin grey or black (Ref. 81279). Inferior lobe of caudal and anterior end of anal fin red-orange (Ref. 2880).
Hydrocynus species are piscivorous, but may also eat Caridina and insects (Ref. 28714). Affinities: easily distinguished from two other species in West Africa from the number of scale-rows below lateral line, which is 3 instead of 2 (Ref. 81279).
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae
Paugy, D., 2003. Alestidae. p. 236-282. In D. Paugy, C. Lévêque and G.G Teugels (eds.) The fresh and brackish water fishes of West Africa Volume 1. Coll. faune et flore tropicales 40. Institut de recherche de développement, Paris, France, Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, Paris, France and Musée royal de l'Afrique Central, Tervuren, Belgium, 457p. (Ref. 81279)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-2)
Threat to humans
Harmless
Human uses
Fisheries: commercial
Tools
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Internet sources
Estimates based on models
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref.
82804): PD
50 = 0.5312 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01122 (0.00514 - 0.02450), b=3.04 (2.87 - 3.21), in cm total length, based on all LWR estimates for this body shape (Ref.
93245).
Trophic level (Ref.
69278): 3.4 ±0.50 se; based on food items.
Resilience (Ref.
120179): Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref.
59153): Moderate to high vulnerability (54 of 100).
