African Lungfishes
The African lungfishes are the genus Protopterus and constitute the four species of lungfish found in Africa. Protopterus is the sole genus in the family Protopteridae.
African lungfishes are elongated, eel-like fishes, with thread-like pectoral and pelvic fins. They have soft scales, and the dorsal and tail fins are fused into a single structure. They can either swim like eels, or crawl along the bottom, using their pectoral and pelvic fins. The largest species reach about 200 cm (6.6 ft) long.
The African lungfish is an example of how the evolutionary transition from breathing water to breathing air can happen. Lungfish are periodically exposed to water with low oxygen content or situations in which their aquatic environment dries up. Their adaptation for dealing with these conditions is an outpocketing of the gut, related to the swim bladder of other fishes, that serves as a lung.
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