Polypteridae

Mottled bichir

Polypterus weeksii

Polypterid Fish of African Waters

• Tropical
• Regional distribution
• Freshwater fish
• Africa
• Elongated
• Compressed cross-section
• Large
• Tropical fish

Polypterus weeksii, the mottled bichir, is a fish in the family Polypteridae found in the central basin of the Congo River. It grows to about 54 cm in head-to-tail length. Named in honor of John Henry Weeks (1861-1924), Baptist missionary, ethnographer, explorer and diarist, who collected type at his mission station in Monsembe, upper Congo River, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo).