''Aphyosemion bivittatum'' (twostripe lyretail, two-banded killi, red lyretail) is a species of freshwater fish belonging to the family

Aplocheilidae Aplocheilidae, the Asian killifishes or Asian rivulines, is a family of fish in the order Cyprinodontiformes found in Asia. Some authorities use this family-group name, which is well-established, for a single lumped aplocheiloid family as it give ...

. It is found in rivers in southeastern

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

and southwestern

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

. It was originally described as ''Fundulus bivittatus'' by Swedish zoologist

Einar Lönnberg Axel Johann Einar Lönnberg (24 December 1865 – 21 November 1942) was a Swedish zoologist and conservationist. Lönnberg was born in Stockholm. He was head of the Vertebrate Department of the '' Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet'' (Swedish Natural ...

in 1895. The

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

was discovered near a waterfall in the Ndian River in Cameroon and currently is located in the Stockholm Museum.

Appearance

''A. bivittatum'' has an elongated, brightly coloured body with two dark bands made up of red spots running along each side, with the colors varying between populations. Individual males are commonly found with golden-brown dorsal surfaces, bluish sides, and golden ventral surfaces. The males have a maximum body length of approximately and have brightly marked, tall and pointed anal and dorsal fins that are yellow to pastel green with red edges. The caudal and dorsal fins are green with red spots and bright yellow tips. It has 10–13 spines in its dorsal fin and 12–15 in its anal fin.

Habitat

The species is found in small calcium rich steams in the coastal rainforests of southeastern Nigeria and southwestern Cameroon. They are

benthopelagic The demersal zone is the part of the sea or ocean (or deep lake) consisting of the part of the water column near to (and significantly affected by) the seabed and the benthos. The demersal zone is just above the benthic zone and forms a layer of ...

, meaning they float just above the riverbed. They prefer water with a pH of 6 to 6.5 and temperature of .

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1497321 Freshwater fish of West Africa Freshwater fish of Cameroon bivittatum Taxa named by Einar Lönnberg Fish described in 1895