Amphibians & Fish
Everyone knows Africa's wildlife, especially the big elephants, the lions and all the herd animals in the vast plains of Africa. Of course, these are not all the animals that call the continent home.
There are still the fish in the great rivers and the amphibians that live in water and on land. Amphibians and fish are less well known from animal shows on television than the large mammals in the steppes and forests.
Fish species of Africa
For example, aquarists know fish, who have cichlids from African rivers and lakes swimming in their aquariums. Among the cichlids there are countless subspecies, which come for example from the great lakes, such as Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika. Of course, there are also catfish, whose home is African rivers and African lakes. Due to the isolation in the individual lakes and rivers, many fish are found only in one place. For example, the different cichlid species such as the peacock cichlid or the nandopsis cichlid can only be found in Lake Tanganyika. Colorful and unique cichlids also live in Lake Malawi, such as the Marmalade Cat and the Fairy Cichlid.
Lake Malawi is also well known among aquarists, partly because of the various catfish, such as the featherfin catfish. Catfish occur throughout Africa, both in rivers and in lakes. The spiny catfish is already quite large at 70 centimeters in length, but the real catfish from the Niger Delta can grow up to 2.50 meters long.
Amphibians - unknown but not uninteresting
Not many amphibians are known, most of them being frog species. However, newts and salamanders also belong to the amphibians, which are not so common in Africa. Among the lesser-known amphibians are also the so-called caecilians, which live in the tropical forests of Africa. About 180 species are known, some of which live in water and others in moist forest soil. These animals have excellent senses of touch and smell, which replace the eyes. The size varies from ten centimeters to 1.30 meters.
Frogs and toads
The most species-rich groups are the frogs and toads, which with their 2600 species populate the world and of course Africa. Among these species is the short-headed frog, which is the only one living in the Namib Desert. Then there is the African toad, which lives from West to East Africa between Mauritania and North Sudan. This amphibian can live in dry savannah, in bush landscapes as well as in humid areas. The size is about ten centimeters and their life expectancy is about seven years. The main diet consists of insects and other invertebrates that they can catch. The females can lay up to 12,000 eggs. Many of these amphibian species can be described as unique in that they often eke out their existence in hostile environments.
