Taxonomy & naming
Owen described the species in 1839 from the Gambia River in western Africa. It belongs to Protopteridae, the African lungfishes. The epithet is Latin for connecting, a reference to the lungfishes' place between fishes and four-legged animals.
Morphology
An eel-like fish with long, thin, threadlike paired fins. FishBase gives a maximum of 39.5 in TL for males or unsexed fish.
Habitat
Western and sub-Saharan Africa, in swamps, floodplains and slow rivers. FishBase gives a temperature range of 25 to 30 degrees C. In dry seasons lungfishes of this genus seal themselves in a mud burrow and breathe air until the water returns.
Feeding
Diet is not documented in the sources available to the atlas.
Mating
Courtship has not been described in the sources available to the atlas.
Breeding
Breeding in captivity has not been documented in the sources available to the atlas. In the genus, the male guards a nest burrow holding the eggs and young.
In the aquarium
Sold by one partner store. A lungfish needs air access at the surface, a tank long enough to turn in, and a secure lid. It will bite smaller tankmates. FishBase gives a temperature range of 25 to 30 degrees C and no pH or hardness range.
Conservation
The IUCN Red List classes Protopterus annectens as Least Concern, assessed in October 2019.