Spotted Ctenopoma

• Its irregular mottling and its habit of drifting at an angle among submerged leaf litter make it pass for a dead leaf, a camouflage it uses to get close to its prey.
• Like the rest of the anabantids, it has a labyrinth organ and breathes atmospheric air.
• The name climbing perch comes from the ability of its Asian relatives to move about out of water by levering themselves on their gill covers.
• It hunts by pretending to be a leaf. Its pattern of irregular spots and its habit of drifting on its side, motionless, mimic a dead leaf adrift; when prey comes close, it sucks it in with a sudden gulp.
• It is an anabantid: it breathes air with a labyrinth organ, which allows it to live in warm waters with very little oxygen.
• It can swallow prey of a surprising size for its build, thanks to a highly protrusible mouth.
• In the aquarium it has a reputation for being peaceful with large fish and lethal with small ones: it is not aggressive, it simply eats them.
• It is called a "climbing" fish because anabantids of its genus can travel short distances out of the water, although in this species the behaviour is uncommon.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (fish)

Habitat and environment

Backwaters and slow, vegetated waters of the Congo basin

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ctenopoma_acutirostre

The pins mark the parks where its presence is documented.