Fishes
247
FaMiLy: Citharinidae (LuteFiSheS)
Citharinus cithrus Geoffroy St. Hilaire 1809
Order: Characiformes
Family: Citharinidae
Common name: Moonfish.
Distribution: Africa: Gambia, Senegal,
Niger, Volta, Ouémé and Chad Basins
(Daget, 1984).
Habitat: Lakes, large rivers.
Description: Body shape is short and
deep. Dorsal head profile is clearly concave. Mouth is terminal. Eyes are protected by small adipose eyelids. Body
is silvery. Pectoral and superior lobes
of the caudal fin are grayish. Inferior
lobe of the caudal and anal fins are red.
Basal part of adipose is blackish (Gosse
and Paugy, 2003).
Nutritional Facts
Proximate Composition (% DM)
Protein
Fiber
Ash
Moisture
21.62
0.75
1.35
17.16
Minerals (mg/g)
Ca
K
Mg
P
Zn
Fe Na
2.77
0.63 0.21 0.023 0.042 0.14 2.9
Source: Data from Effiong and Fakunle (2011).
Amino Acids (mg/g)
Alanine
4.06
Arginine
3.89
Aspartic acid
10.0
Glutamic acid
15.6
Glycine
2.52
Histidine
3.07
Isoleucine
2.49
Leucine
0
Lysine
8.39
Methionine
3.04
Phenylalanine
2.54
Proline
2.76
Serine
2.57
Source: Data from Effiong and
Mohammed (2008).
Brycinus nurse Rüppell 1832 (= Alestes nurse)