You can sponsor this page

Micralestes acutidens (Peters, 1852)

Sharptooth tetra
Upload your photos and videos
Pictures | Google image
Image of Micralestes acutidens (Sharptooth tetra)
Micralestes acutidens
Picture by Gratwicke, B.


Central African Republic country information

Common names: [No common name]
Occurrence: native
Salinity: freshwater
Abundance: | Ref:
Importance: | Ref:
Aquaculture: | Ref:
Regulations: | Ref:
Uses: live export: yes;
Comments: Known from the Sangha (Ref. 59215) and Ubangi (Ref. 45441) in the middle Congo River basin.
National Checklist:
Country Information: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/ct.html
National Fisheries Authority:
Occurrences: Occurrences Point map
Main Ref: Stiassny, M.L.J. and V. Mamonekene, 2007
National Database:

Common names from other countries

Classification / Names Nombres comunes | Sinónimos | Catalog of Fishes(Género, Especie) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

> Characiformes (Characins) > Alestidae (African tetras)
Etymology: Micralestes: Greek, mikros = small + Greek,lestes = thief (Ref. 45335).
  More on author: Peters.

Issue
Affinities: most similar to M. elongatus, from which it differs in the presence of multicuspid (vs conical, monocuspid) inner dentary teeth, inner premaxillary and outer dentary teeth with greater number of cusps and a slightly more robus body (Ref. 80290).

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecología

; agua dulce pelágico; pH range: 6.2 - 8.0; dH range: ? - 25; potamodromo (Ref. 51243).   Tropical; 22°C - 26°C (Ref. 1672)

Distribución Países | Áreas FAO | Ecosistemas | Ocurrencias, apariciones | Point map | Introducciones | Faunafri

Africa: Congo, Okavango, Zambezi (Ref. 7248, 120641), Kunene and east coast rivers south to the Pongolo (Ref. 7248), Cross and Sanaga Rivers (Ref. 80290) and Tanzania (Ref. 4967). Nilo-Sudan and West-African reports of M. acutidens (e.g. Ref. 367, 51193) are misidentifications of M. elongatus (see DVD version of Ref. 81279; see also Ref. 2880).

Length at first maturity / Tamaño / Peso / Age

Maturity: Lm 3.4  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 9.0 cm SL macho / no sexado; (Ref. 4967); peso máximo publicado: 2.00 g (Ref. 3799); edad máxima reportada: 3.00 años (Ref. 7248)

Short description Claves de identificación | Morfología | Morfometría

Espinas dorsales (total) : 0; Radios blandos dorsales (total) : 10 - 11; Espinas anales: 0; Radios blandos anales: 17 - 20. Diagnosis: inner dentary teeth multicuspid; 14-17 anal fin branched rays; dorsal fin apical tip black; scales of flank without melanophores concentrated along basal margin, pigment diffuse or absent (Ref. 80290).

Biología     Glosario (por ej. epibenthic)

Shoals in clear, flowing or standing, open water; appears to co-exist with the tigerfish Hydrocynus forskalii in open water although it is heavily preyed upon by that predator, particularly those shoals of tigerfish ranging up to 45 cm in length (Ref. 13337). Omnivorous, often feeding from surface waters on winged insects; also takes insect larvae, crustaceans and eggs and fry of other fish (Ref. 13337). Matures after a year; partial spawner of moderate fecundity, with usually fewer than 700 eggs per female; shoals migrate upstream after first summer rains; breeds throughout the summer months; used as forage fish and as bait for tigerfish and pike (Ref. 7248).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturities | Reproducción | Spawnings | Egg(s) | Fecundities | Larva

Main reference Upload your references | Referencias | Coordinador | Colaboradores

Skelton, P.H., 1993. A complete guide to the freshwater fishes of southern Africa. Southern Book Publishers. 388 p. (Ref. 7248)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 30 April 2018

CITES (Ref. 128078)

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless




Human uses


Warning: mysqli::__construct(): (08004/1040): Too many connections in /var/www/html/includes/func_getlabel.php on line 46
Can't connect to MySQL database (fbapp). Errorcode: Too many connections