Nothobranchius brieni is a species of brightly colored fish in the family Nothobranchiidae. It is endemic to freshwater habitats in the south-eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[1][2][3]

Nothobranchius brieni
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Cyprinodontiformes
Family: Nothobranchiidae
Genus: Nothobranchius
Species:
N. brieni
Binomial name
Nothobranchius brieni
Poll, 1938

Description and habitat

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Adult males reach a length of about 60 mm, but the females are slightly smaller.[2] The species is a semi-annual killifish. They inhabit ephemeral pools filled by rainwater during the monsoon season, being adapted to the alteration of dry and wet seasons. As with all members of the genus Nothobranchius, they show extreme life-history adaptations: their embryos survive by entering a three or four month long diapause, within eggs that have a very hard chorion and are resistant to desiccation and hypoxia. When the habitats dry up, the adult fish die and the eggs survive encased in the clay during the dry season.

Type locality and type material

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The type locality is stated as "Bukama, Shaba province, southeastern Zaïre (09° 12Ž S-25° 51Ž E)". The lectotype of the taxon is reposited as "MRAC 50016" at the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren, Belgium, together with 23 paratypes.[3] The type was collected by the Belgian zoologist and colleague of Max Poll, Paul Brien (1894-1975), who is honoured in its specific name.[4]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Nagy, B.; Watters, B. (2019). "Nothobranchius brieni". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019: e.T182281A58329824. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T182281A58329824.en. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  2. ^ a b Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Nothobranchius brieni". FishBase. March 2019 version.
  3. ^ a b Poll, M. 1938. Poissons du Katanga (bassin du Congo) récoltés par le professeur Paul Brien. Revue de Zoologie et de Botanique Africaines v. 30 (no. 4): 389–423, 15 fig. [see page 409, fig. 11].
  4. ^ Christopher Scharpf; Kenneth J. Lazara (31 May 2019). "Order CYPRINODONTIFORMES: Families APLOCHEILIDAE and NOTHOBRANCHIIDAE". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
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