Bony fish · Perciformes · Anabantidae

Spotted Ctenopoma

Ctenopoma acutirostre

Least Concern

The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary

Ctenopoma acutirostre, known in Spanish as gurami leopardo, pez leopardo de arbusto, pez hoja africano, ctenopoma manchado, ctenopoma leopardo, perca trepadora manchada, pez hoja manchado, cíclido manchado or pez arbusto manchado, is a freshwater fish, a member of the family Anabantidae, which forms part of a group popularly known as the labyrinth fish.

Size

12 cm – 20 cm

Diet

Carnivore

Feeds mainly on other animals.

Activity

Nocturnal

Active mainly at night.

Social structure

Solitary

Lives and hunts alone, joining others only to breed.

Sighting difficulty

Easy

FreshwaterCarnivore Nocturnal Solitary Fish Freshwater

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Fun facts

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 anabantoids, 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 owes its climbing name to the fact that anabantids of its genus can travel short distances out of the water, although in this species the behaviour is uncommon.