Bichirs
Polypterus
Polypterus is a genus of freshwater fish in the bichir family (Polypteridae) of order Polypteriformes. The type species is the Nile bichir (P. bichir). Fishes in this genus live in various areas in Africa. The etymology of the genus name derives from a combination of the Greek prefix πολυ-, poly- (many) and the root word πτερον, pteron (wing or fin) – "many fins". Polypterus is the only known vertebrate to have lungs, but no trachea.
13 branches of this genus, most-observed first · about 13 known species
Senegal Bichir
speciesPolypterus senegalus
Saddled Bichir
speciesPolypterus endlicherii
Ornate Bichir
speciesPolypterus ornatipinnis
Barred Bichir
speciesPolypterus delhezi
Nile Bichir
speciesPolypterus bichir
Congo Bichir
speciesPolypterus congicus
Shortfin Bichir
speciesPolypterus palmas
Poll's Bichir
speciesPolypterus polli
Mottled Bichir
speciesPolypterus weeksii
Cross River Bichir
speciesPolypterus teugelsi
Mokèlé-mbèmbé Bichir
speciesPolypterus mokelembembe
West African Bichir
speciesPolypterus retropinnis
Guinean Bichir
speciesPolypterus ansorgii
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Polypterus in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 91228.