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Eurwentala — Beware my teeth
Published: 2011-09-04 21:31:55 +0000 UTC; Views: 2336; Favourites: 15; Downloads: 28
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Description
A female Senegal bichir (Polypterus senegalus) is showing the rather personal set of teeth these creatures have. Despite their appearance (they seem to be crying for a dentist) the teeth are sharp and very usable when killing and swallowing small animals. I got bitten once, and it did hurt.You can also see her tubular nostrils that can be turned towards the source of smells. The holes in her face are not symptoms of any disease but ampullae of Lorenzini, sensory organs used to sense electric fields.
She is also exactly as stupid as she looks. What a lovable creature.
I know, the picture quality is horrible. The pose was just too fun to be missed.
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Comments: 21
Ah...so they do have teeth! I know folks who hand feed theirs, but I've never cared to. You are brave! Thanks for sharing this photo!
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Now imagine what a Bawtius could do....probably could kill someone.
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Yeah, sure could. A 300 cm bichir, if it was otherwise similar to living species, would probably be able to rip limbs off humans without too much trouble.
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These pictures make me miss mine so much. I had a Senegal (Xerxes), Ornate (Plato), Endlicheri (Spartacus), Polli (Pliny), Delhezi (Xerxes II) and Lapradei (Artemis) and several before then. This was over the span of 20 years--and I don't think I'd ever been bitten, despite working with my hands in the tank and petting them.
Some have since died (the Polli died after 15 years), and some are still alive, in a public museum display (if it's still alive, the ornate is 18 years old now).
And I will get some again some day. These were always my favourites.
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Bichirs have ampullae of Lorenzini?? I thought only sharks had that O.O
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Apparently, some of the more ancient sorts of bony fish inherited ampullae of Lorenzini as well from their common ancestors with sharks. Bichirs and, if I recall correctly, sturgeons too, have them. They are also shared with lungfish, which are more closely related to us than other fish. I'm not sure if the electrosensory organs of some amphibians are actually ampullae of Lorenzini as well. At least catfish and knifefish as well as osteoglossiforms (such as elephant nose fish) evolved their electrosensory organs separately and they have a different structure even if they work basically the same way.
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wow.. that is fascinating o.o
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I posted a picture of Death and the bite he gave me if you want to see them.
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I got bit by a P. senegalus and it tore up my finger really bad.
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Ouch! Hiw big was the bichir? My 22 cm male bit me recently hard enough to draw blood, but not that bad.
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I also noticed that out of all of the bichirs Ive ever had, Death is the smartest. I have a Turtle dock in my tank for him and sometimes he drives minnows onto the dock to beach them and crawls out of the water to get them.
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Well, that's a descriptive name. I didn't realise they could do that much damage. Damn, I should perhaps be more careful around them. My bichir's name is Lousku, which translates to something like "bitey" or so.
Lousku bit me when I was hand-feeding it. One might think it was an accident, but not really. He pushed the piece of shrimp aside and jumped out of the water to get to the fingers. Not the first time either, but the only time he made visible damage.
Quite the contrary to Death, Lousku is a complete idiot in all aspects, though a good-natured one. A lovely little guy.
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Mine so smart that it learned how to hiss alittle, but its really more like a hard exhale, even i know how to do it. is lousku Latin?
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Hiss? Over or under water? Sounds interesting. I haven't heard my bichirs making any vocalizations, even though my other fish (squeaker and talking catfish, polka-dot loaches and Ctenopoma) are rather noisy.
Lousku is just a Finnish pet name used for creatures, such as dogs, that either bite or bark a lot.
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Over water, but it's pretty simple. You just press your tongue against the roof of your mouth and exhale, Try It! In order to truly make noise, a creature needs this flap in there throat which is supposed to vibrate and create a noise, bichir don't have that but they don't need it to hiss.
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I see, but it's not obvious a bichir can manage to press it's tongue against the roof of it's mouth and exhale. They lack bony palate, which makes the roof of their mouth rather different than ours. I'm not sure what their tongue is like, but it's sure not as mobile as ours. And they don't normally exhale through their mouths at all: see yourself, the air comes out through the spiracles located under the operculum.
Hissing is, then, rather more impressive trick, I think.
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Well, I oftely let my polypterus walk around out of the the water with well supervision and care and ive oftenly seen his tongue, his tongue is much like ours but the pallet hiss was a theory if not a fact then.
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6inches long, and interesting we were both bitten by males. My Bichir's name is Death, he also earned that name because he's, well rogue. He Me so hard and thrashed back and forward that he cut my, muscle and got very close to finger bones. My cut bled for a whole minute despite my best attempts to make it stop. If I had just let it bleed it would of been bleeding for much long. And damn does getting bit hurt or what. What Happened that your Bichir bit you, the situation? Mine was crawling around on the floor and I went to pick him up and I got bit.
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Gorgeous Senegal
I have a Saddled Bichir (Endlicheri) probably around 8/9 inches now
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Thanks! She is gorgeous. At least if you ask the male bichirs.
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