Polypteridae Sizes (lengths)

[King-eL]

Here are some of average max size in aquaria and recorded max size on the wild in my knowledge.

CB stand for captive breed and WC stand for wild caught. YWC stand for young wild caught.

(Note* Some of the wild caught when started from a small size may not even get close to it's max recorded wild size. Also polypterus bichir katangae is just a synonym to polypterus endlicheri congicus. Both are the same species. Another thing, different regional variant have different max size. So in reality max size on some bichirs are still a mystery.)

-Saddled bichir (Polypterus endlicheri endlicheri) CB=16-24"/WC=30"/YWC=20-25"
-Congo bichir (Polypterus endlicheri congicus) CB=19-23"/WC=42"/YWC=22-28"
-Guinean bichir (Polypterus ansorgii) CB=18"/WC=38"/YWC=18=20"
-Nile bichir (Polypterus bichir bichir) CB=18-25"/WC=36"/YWC=20-26"
-Laprade's bichir (Polypterus bichir lapradei) CB=16-18"/WC=25"/YWC=18-24.5"
-Barred bichir (Polypterus delhezi) CB=10-13.5"/WC=17"?/YWC=12-14"
-Fathead bichir (Polypterus weeksii) CB=14-16"/WC=22.5"/YWC=18-22"
-Senegal bichir (Polypterus senegalus senegalus) CB=6-13.5"/WC=24.5"/YWC=10-13.5"
-Shortfin bichir (Polypterus palmas palmas) CB=NA/WC=14"?/YWC=12-14"
-Golddust bichir (Polypterus palmas buettikoferi) CB=NA/WC=21.5"/YWC=12-14"
-Marble bichir (Polypterus palmas polli) CB=10-13.5"/WC=16"/YWC=12-13.5"
-Mokele-mbembe bichir (Polypterus mokelembembe) CB=NA/WC=14"/YWC=9-12"
-Retro bichir (Polypterus retropinnis) CB=NA/WC=16"/YWC=12-14"
-Cross river bichir (Polypterus teugelsi) CB=NA/WC=24"/YWC=16-19"
-Ornate bichir (Polypterus ornatipinnis) CB=18-24"/WC=26"/YWC=18-24.5"

-Ropefish (Erpetoichthys calabaricus) CB=12-13"/WC=39?/YWC=13-18"

I did not add polypterus senegalus meridionalis as I never seen the species yet. Could kit just be a synonym to polypterus senegalus senegalus.

 

[Burbotman]

King. Great info! This should be in the polypterus primer in the stickies

 

[gahardy]

Well as of yet FishBase still lists Polypterus bichir katangae as a subspecies of Polypterus bichir with 10 known specimens labeled as such in museums somewhere, it seems that they may be at the Royal Museum for Central Africa, so I will contact the Curator of Fishes there again and see if he can shed some light on this. Dai Suzuki, Matthew C Brandley and Masayoshi Tokita where not able to sample Polypterus bichir katangae at this time, nor do they state that they believe it does not exist as a legitimate species/subspecies. Also they have elevated Polypterus endlicheri congicus to Polypterus congicus, which means Polypterus endlicheri would also be a single species (no subspecies).

As for Erpetoichthys calabaricus there is no proof anywhere that there ever was a specimen of a meter in length or even half that length. I am sure that someone saw a reference to the largest specimen in any museum collection of 37 cm and wrote down 37" some time ago. This was repeated and repeated until today we have the myth of the meter long Reedfish.

As for Polypterus senegalus meridionalis, who knows, again there are many specimens labeled as such, but again we are speaking of a subspecies or local variation. When I was corresponding with M C Brandley recently I did not ask him if it was live specimens they needed for their research but I would imagine it would be and it is odd that this too is a species/subspecies they were not able to sample.

 

[Hao]

We have Ansorgii, Bichir Bichir and Congicus going up to 85cm here in Japan.
That's 33". So the idea of a piece 5" bigger out there in the wild is not that crazy thought.

Now these bigger sized fish are going to cost you SERIOUS money.

82cm (missing a large chunk of caudal fin so 84cm is likely)

There is a member from another forum that posted a pic of a 31" Endlicheri next to a tape measure too!

No way. A 31" Endli? Now this, I got to see!

 

[gahardy]

Erpetoichthys calabaricus (45.7 cm / 18")
Polypterus ansorgii (96.5 cm / 38")
Polypterus bichir bichir (91.4 cm / 36")
Polypterus bichir katangae (46 cm / 18.1")
Polypterus bichir lapradei (74 cm / 29.1")
Polypterus congicus (106.7 cm / 42")
Polypterus delhezi (44 cm / 17.3")
Polypterus endlicheri (78.7 cm / 31")
Polypterus mokelembembe (35.6 cm / 14")
Polypterus ornatipinnis (66 cm / 26")
Polypterus palmas buettikoferi (54.6 cm / 21.5")
Polypterus palmas palmas (35.6 cm / 14"?)
Polypterus palmas polli (40.6 cm / 16")
Polypterus retropinnis (40.6 cm / 16")
Polypterus senegalus meridionalis (85.4 cm / 33.6")
Polypterus senegalus senegalus (62.2 cm / 24.5")
Polypterus teugelsi (61 cm / 24")
Polypterus weeksii (57.2 cm / 22.5")

RED = a fish where the reported size (on this thread) is larger then the known size

Special thanks to tokyogasmask and King-eL

P.S. hope the new forum allows one to edit their replies at any time, would save to be able to update this post instead of redoing it

 

[Spiritofthesoul]

No way. A 31" Endli? Now this, I got to see!

SAME!

 

[King-eL]

Erpetoichthys calabaricus (45.7 cm / 18")
Polypterus ansorgii (96.5 cm / 38")
Polypterus bichir bichir (91.4 cm / 36")
Polypterus bichir katangae (46 cm / 18.1")
Polypterus bichir lapradei (74 cm / 29.1")
Polypterus congicus (106.7 cm / 42")
Polypterus delhezi (44 cm / 17.3")
Polypterus endlicheri (78.7 cm / 31")
Polypterus mokelembembe (35.6 cm / 14")
Polypterus ornatipinnis (66 cm / 26")
Polypterus palmas buettikoferi (54.6 cm / 21.5")
Polypterus palmas palmas (35.6 cm / 14"?)
Polypterus palmas polli (40.6 cm / 16")
Polypterus retropinnis (40.6 cm / 16")
Polypterus senegalus meridionalis (85.4 cm / 33.6")
Polypterus senegalus senegalus (62.2 cm / 24.5")
Polypterus teugelsi (61 cm / 24")
Polypterus weeksii (57.2 cm / 22.5")

RED = a fish where the reported size (on this thread) is larger then the known size

Special thanks to tokyogasmask and King-eL

P.S. hope the new forum allows one to edit their replies at any time, would save to be able to update this post instead of redoing it

Polypterus Bichir Katangae is in fact a synonym to the name Polypterus Endlicheri Congicus. The Polypterus Endlicheri Congicus "Kayo" are the commonly imported Congi around which grows big and with the massive head once gets to 18"+. Reason why Poll who placed the Katangae into the bichir complex is due to the head shape very similar to a lapradei and with a racing stripes just like the pbb and lap which is also found on other congicus except the Tanganyika congicus which have a forehead pattern similar to Nigerian Endli. However study by "Frank Schaefer" revised that Polypterus Bichir Katangae is nothing more but a synonym to Polyperus Endlicheri Congicus.

Here are my old pics of my Congi that came from Lualaba River which was one of the River that Poll founded a bichir and names it Polypterus Bichir Katangae. I still have this bichir today and compare to Kayo Congi, this one does grow slow and still at 19" mark. My other Kayo congi are already at 25".

 

[tokyogasmask]

Here is a pic of the 30+" Endlicheri.
Not mine, not my pic and I don't know who it belongs to. (from another forum)

 

[Hao]

Here is a pic of the 30+" Endlicheri.
Not mine, not my pic and I don't know who it belongs to. (from another forum)

Wow! Thanks for sharing bro! 1st time to see Endli pass 27". I want to see that Congicus in the back.

 

[pbass510]

those are sizes of wild specimens. wow! a 19" senegalus is crazy!

haha yea i was thinking around 12"