PROTOPTERUS:

AFRICAN LUNGFISH

• African lungfishes are elongated, eel-like fishes, with thread-like pectoral and pelvic fins.
• They have soft scales, and the dorsal and tail fins are fused into a single structure.
• They can either swim like eels, or crawl along the bottom, using their pectoral and pelvic fins.

DESCRIPTION

• The largest species reach about 200 cm (6.6 ft) long
• African lungfishes generally inhabit shallow waters, such as swamps and marshes.
• However, they can be found in larger lakes such as Lake Victoria.

REPRODUCTION&LIVING

• They can live out of water for many months in burrows of hardened mud beneath a dried-up stream.
• They are carnivorous, eating crustaceans, aquatic insect larvae, and molluscs.
• They construct nests or burrows in the mud to hold their eggs.
• When they hatch, the young resemble tadpoles, with external gills.
• Later, they develop lungs and begin to breathe air.

ADAPTING TO LAND

• It is an example of how the evolutionary transition from breathing water to breathing air can happen.
• Their adaptation for dealing with these conditions is an outpocketing of the gut.
• It's related to the swim bladder of other fishes, that serves as a lung. 
• The lung contains many thin-walled blood vessels, so blood flowing through those vessels can pick up oxygen from air
• The African lungfishes are obligate air breathers, with reduced gills in the adults

ADAPTION CONT.

• They have two anterior gill arches that retain gills.