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A Virtual Museum on the State's Fish Biodiversity

Anableps anableps

No common name
Collection Details

Specimens

Photos

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Records

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes) Cyprinodontiformes Anablepidae (Four-Eyed Fishes) Anableps Anableps anableps

Description

This species account was compiled from FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2025. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version 04/2025.) and processed using AI-assisted text extraction. It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting. When citing, please reference the original source rather than this page. Learn more about our species accounts.

Characters

Body shape: elongated. Eye divided into aerial and aquatic parts. Fewer than 80 scales in row above lateral line (Ref. 26938).

Distribution

South America: Trinidad and Venezuela to the Amazon delta in Brazil.

Habitat Associations

Freshwater, brackish. demersal. Found in: streams, lakes, estuaries, mangroves.

Biology

Mainly found in freshwater, sometimes in brackish parts of lagoons and mangrove coastlines (Ref. 26938). Moves in schools (Ref. 26938). Feeds on insects (Ref. 7020), other invertebrates and diatoms living on the mud, and small fishes (Ref. 35237). Can remain on mud bottom exposed to air during low tide (Ref. 26938). Used in eye research (Ref. 4537). Often travels in schools (Ref. 26938).
Max length: 30.0 cm TL; common length: 14.0 cm TL; max weight: 400 g.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: internal (oviduct); bearers (internal live bearers). Length at birth 4.5 5.2 cm TL (Ref. 35237).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2020-04-10. Resilience: Medium (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).

Commercial or Environmental Importance

Fisheries: subsistence fisheries; aquarium: commercial.

References

Cervigón, F., R. Cipriani, W. Fischer, L. Garibaldi, M. Hendrickx, A.J. Lemus, R. Márquez, J.M. Poutiers, G. Robaina and B. Rodriguez (1992) Fichas FAO de identificación de especies para los fines de la pesca. Guía de campo de las especies comerciales marinas y de aquas salobres de la costa septentrional de Sur América. FAO, Rome. 513 p. Preparado con el financiamento de la Comisión de Comunidades Europeas y de NORAD.
Zurlo, G. (1995) Zur Fortpflanzungsbiologie von Vieraugenfischen. p. 165-171. In H. Greven and R. Riehl (eds.) Fortpflanzungsbiologie der Aquarienfische. Birgit Schmettkamp Verlag, Bornheim, Germany.
Smith, C.L. (1997) National Audubon Society field guide to tropical marine fishes of the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, the Bahamas, and Bermuda. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York. 720 p.
Keith, P., P.-Y. Le Bail and P. Planquette (2000) Atlas des poissons d'eau douce de Guyane. Tome 2, Fascicule I: Batrachoidiformes, Mugiliformes, Beloniformes, Cyprinodontiformes, Synbranchiformes, Perciformes, Pleuronectiformes, Tetraodontiformes. Collection Patrimoines Naturels 43(I): 286p. Paris: Publications scientifiques du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle.

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