#protopterus

[inbarfink]

[aticketplz]

顔の模様がとってもかわいい

@スマートアクアリウム静岡

Your face paint is very nice

@Smart Aquarium Shizuoka

[bestanimal]

Round 2 - Chordata - Dipnoi

(Sources - 1, 2, 3, 4)

Dipnoi is a class of Sarcopterygiian fish commonly called “lungfish”. While widely distributed since the Early Devonian, today only 6 species remain. They are the closest living relatives to tetrapods (amphibians, reptiles, and mammals).

Like other Sarcopterygiians, lungfish have lobed, bony fins and a well-developed internal skeleton. True to their name, they have a highly specialized respiratory system which includes lungs, subdivided into numerous smaller air sacs. Most extant lungfish species have two lungs, with the exception of the Australian Lungfish (Neoceratodus forsteri), which has only one. The Australian Lungfish can breathe through its gills without needing air from its lung, but in all other species the gills are too atrophied to allow for adequate gas exchange. Lungfish have unique dentition, bearing fan-shaped tooth plates called odontodes, which are used to crush hard shelled organisms. Some groups have ridges on these tooth plates that form occluding blades. They are omnivorous, feeding on fish, insects, crustaceans, worms, mollusks, amphibians, and plant matter. African and South American Lungfish are capable of surviving seasonal drying-out of their habitats by burrowing into mud and estivating throughout the dry season.

(own work)

Propaganda under the cut:

The Australian Lungfish has existed in Australia for at least 100 million years, making it a true living fossil and one of the oldest living vertebrate genera on the planet. It is the most primitive surviving member of the ancient Dipnoi lineages.

The Marbled Lungfish's (Protopterus aethiopicus) genome contains 133 billion base pairs, making it the largest known genome of any vertebrate. The only organisms known to have more base pairs are the amoeboid Polychaos dubium and the flowering plant Paris japonica at 670 billion (possibly) and 150 billion, respectively.

The Spotted Lungfish (Protopterus dolloi) can aestivate on land by surrounding itself in a layer of dried mucus.

An Australian Lungfish named “Granddad” at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago lived to be 109 years old, before he had to be euthanized due to an age-related decline in health. The current oldest Australian Lungfish is now “Methuselah”, who lives at the California Academy of Sciences, and is around 100 years old. Methuselah has been described as "mellow" by her keeper. She is also noted to like belly rubs, back rubs, and fresh figs.

Australian Lungfish are one of the cutest animals on the planet and I want a life-sized plushie/body pillow of one

[fish-fact-friday]

Fish Fact Friday! 5-24-24

African lungfish (scientific name protopterus annectens) have a lung and are good at withstanding longer periods of drought, as they burrow in the mud and secrete a mucus around themselves that then hardens into an almost cocoon like structure! They can survive for up to a year this way, waiting for the waterways to fill up again.

References:

https://www.oregonzoo.org/animals/african-lungfish#:~:text=To%20manage%20this%20life%2Dthreatening,lungfish%20also%20hibernates%20in%20water.

[cypherdecypher]

Animal of the Day!

West African Lungfish (Protopterus annectens)

(Photo from Zoo Leipzig)

Conservation Status- Least Concern

Habitat- Western Africa; Southern Africa

Size (Weight/Length)- 3.6 kg; 100 cm

Diet- Mollusks; Frogs; Fish; Roots; Seeds

Cool Facts- The West African lungfish have one of the most complex respiratory systems of any fish. Capable of breathing air with help from gas bladders, they can maximize their gas exchange in their lungs. Even when water is abundant, West African Lungfish breathe directly from the surface. However, living in Africa often means a lack of water for most of winter. These lungfish are capable of living outside of water for these months, buried in dry riverbeds and waiting for the rains to bring rivers. During their aestivation, the West African lungfish doesn’t eat at all. One time, a lungfish survived 3 and a half years without eating anything as it waited for its river to fill.

Rating- 13/10 (Epitome of noodle arms.)

[i-give-you-a-fish]

greetings, may i have the weirdest freshwater fish in your arsenal

Bam! Here you are, the freshest water freak i got

Most jawed fish are classified as ray-finned fish. However, these guys and Ceolocanths are the only remaining lobe-finned fish.

Another fun fact! Tiktaalik, also known as Grandpa, also known as one of the first fish to escape the sea, was classified as a lobe-finned fish. As were its descendants. So by purely taxonomic classification, YOU are a lobe-finned fish. Congratulations :D

Anyway, enough science lesson. Onto the feeesh

You get a Marbled Lungfish

Protopterus aethiopicus

[have-you-seen-this-animal]

This animal was requested!

[meret118]

Tmesipteris oblanceolata, a fern, has a genome five times larger than the human one. It is the largest yet observed in nature, reports Nature, and its 160 billion base pairs "raises questions as to how the plant manages its genetic material."

. . .

ETA: The marbled lungfish, Protopterus aethiopicus, has the largest animal genome—thirty billion base pairs less than this fern.

[waeirfaahl]

The sea habitants issue

The Under the Sea episode was always a bit confusing, because it had quite weird elements, which raised questions to the characters Jack interacts with.

According to the sea habitants, Aku sank their city a long time ago, so they live at the bottom of the ocean. And they thought that if they capture Jack and bring to Aku, the demon will allow them to return from the sea or whatever. And when Aku teleported away after fight with Jack, their cities surfaced... I.e. they could do this themselves all along... Because nothing hindered them.

And there are already questions: First of all, what kind of technology or spell Aku used to sink their city? Extremely powerful ability, which is never demonstrated in the show. And, well, at least, in this episode only the sea habitants mention Aku as the one who sank them (they could tell that simply for getting Jack's trust the same way they lied him about a time machine, i.e. the exaggerated version of events, similar to the dogs-archeologists that I discussed here and here — like, I'd more quickly assume bad conditions of the work in mines and conflict about the fate of the ancient canine city). Similar thing I discussed in this post about the alien dudes from 2 episode of 1 season — I would even argue that if Aku really took everything from their planet, more sense for him (as an evil dictator, you know) to let them die, but he allowed to them to live only Earth instead, and he wanted only the statue from them, nothing more. The same lack of details happens with the sea habitants. I mean, for what Aku sank them? More sense for him to get all their wealth and to kill them all, if they did something he didn't like or whatever.

Second, why they so wanted to go back from the ocean? The episode demonstrates that they have cool technologies and weapons, they have enough food, they have a developed city and infrastructure, they don't have rivals or enemies. Like, later the classic seasons show that they are not the only sentient creatures that live under the sea. In Jack's amnesia episode Scotsman and Jack meet other sea habitants that greet Jack for help. They still can interact with other world, being under the sea.

Third, did they really lived on land in the past? Because they look like typical underwater creatures. Scales, flippers and other paraphernalia of amphibians and marine animals. They breath under the sea and feel fine at the bottom of the ocean. No way they could be from land. If you argue that they simply evolved during centuries, living in the ocean, my question — then how they survived the sinking in the first place and adapted to living in the water and to different pressure, especially at the floor of the ocean? How they were able to create this cool city with technologies? Why they wanted to return to the land, if their body is unsuitable for habitation on land anymore? Plus, what I noticed, they breath in the water and at the same time they can breath near Jack with oxygen. So, I would assume that their lungs are similar to a protopterus, i.e. they are dipnoi lungfish and can breath both in the water and in the land.

On another side, in 5 season we see that they still need water to breath, they can't breath without water... So, my questions remain.

And their fishes somehow can fly outside of the water, i.e. in air... Logic just shot itself... Honestly, more sense to make them just live under the sea and trade with other sea and land peoples and cities and kingdoms, but after some mistake (maybe little and so unimportant nobody would ever punish for this) Aku forbade them to trade with others and to go on the lands for this, i.e. he intentionally and forcefully isolated them. They felt that they can't survive in stagnation and isolation, there's no material to maintain technology and the city in a normal state, and the existing ones are gradually being depleted and become unusable, so they saw a chance to earn and to return Aku's mercy (hence to escape from this isolation) by bringing Jack to Aku. I see their backstory this way, honestly.

Plus, living on the surface in the middle of the sea or ocean is extremely reckless, impractical and deadly due to storms, typhoons, waterspouts and huge and powerful waves. Not to mention gigantic sea beasts.

[bathypelagicbutch]

thinking abt her (Protopterus aethiopicus)

[goodheart0101]

هناك أسماك يمكن أن تسبت وتجف، ولكن عند ملامستها للماء "تعود للحياة" مرة أخرى. واسم هذه السمكة هو بروتوبتيروس "Protopterus".

- سبحان الله -

[animalids]

West African lungfish (Protopterus annectens)

Photo by Michel Gunther

[aticketplz]

同じ水槽にレピドシレンもいたらしくて、その光景がみたかったなぁと思いました

大丈夫なんだ

寺泊水族博物館

[sitting-on-me-bum]

The Marbled African Lungfish (Protopterus aethiopicus) breathes air, “walks” underwater with its fins, and can grow nearly six feet long!

© Solomon David

[otussketching]

Lungfish may be lovable and derpy, but the weird thing is, it has more in common with us,(tetrapods,that is) than other fish. Like their name implies, lungfish breathe using their lungs. They can actually drown if they don't come to the surface. They also have four fins that resemble limbs. These "limbs" help lungfish move in the murky water.

[snailtongue]

West African Lungfish, Protopterus annectens, at the Greater Vancouver Zoo

© 2003 Jeff Whitlock

[ID: A large lungfish swimming in murky green water towards the viewer.]