Brycinus macrolepidotus  Valenciennes, 1850

True big-scale tetra
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Brycinus macrolepidotus
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) > Characiformes (Characins) > Alestidae (African tetras)
Etymology: Brycinus: Greek, ebrykon, brykomai = to bite, to gnaw (Ref. 45335).   More on author: Valenciennes.

Environment / Climate / Range Ecology

Freshwater; brackish; pelagic; potamodromous (Ref. 51243).   Tropical; 22°C - 28°C (Ref. 12468)

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 18.5, range 33 - ? cm
Max length : 53.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 2880); max. published weight: 2.0 kg (Ref. 3799)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Anal spines: 3; Anal soft rays: 10 - 16. Diagnosis: supraorbital bone well developed; parietal fontanella absent in adults and in juveniles (Ref. 2880, 81279). 8-12 teeth in outer premaxillary row; 4.5 scales above lateral line; snout long, comprised three times in head length; dorsal-fin origin distinctly behind level of pelvic-fin insertions; head narrow; adults large-sized; no sexual dimorphism affecting anal-fin shape in adult males; body depth more than three times in standard length adults (Ref. 81279).

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Introductions | Faunafri

Africa: Inter-tropical but absent in the Gambia basin. Senegal, Niger, Chad, Volta and basins from Guinea Bissau to Cameroon; Sudan border, upper Nile, Albert Nile and Murchison Nile, Lake Albert, Victoria, Omo and Lake Turkana, Congo basin (Ref. 5331).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

More common in rivers than lakes. Feeds on insects, crustaceans, fish, vegetation and debris (Ref. 28714).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Paugy, D., 1990. Characidae. p. 195-236. In C. Lévêque, D. Paugy and G.G. Teugels (eds.) Faune des poissons d'eaux douces et saumâtres de l'Afrique de l'Ouest. Tome I. Coll. Faune Tropicale n° XXVIII. Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale, Tervuren et O.R.S.T.O.M., Paris, 384 p.

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 90363)

  Least Concern (LC) 

Threat to humans

  Harmless




Human uses

Fisheries: commercial
FAO(Publication : search) | FisheriesWiki | Sea Around Us

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Internet sources

BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | DiscoverLife | Faunafri | Fishtrace | GenBank(genome, nucleotide) | GOBASE | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | iSpecies | PubMed | Scirus | SeaLifeBase | Tree of Life | uBio | Wikipedia(Go, Search) | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoobank | Zoological Record

Estimates of some properties based on empirical models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805):  PD50 = 0.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01005 (-0.09537 - 0.11547), b=2.98 (2.91 - 3.05), based on LWR estimates for species & genus-BS (Ref. 93245).
Trophic Level (Ref. 69278):  2.3   ±0.2 se; Based on diet studies.
Resilience (Ref. 69278):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Moderate vulnerability (43 of 100) .
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Unknown.