''Pristolepis fasciatus'', commonly known as the Malayan leaffish, is a fish in the family

Pristolepididae ''Pristolepis'' is a genus of fish in the family Pristolepididae sometimes classified in the order Anabantiformes native to freshwater habitats in Southeast Asia and India's Western Ghats. This genus is the only member of its family, a family wh ...

. It lives in the

Mekong The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's List of rivers by length, twelfth longest river and List of longest rivers of Asia, the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , ...

and Chao Phraya basins in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, the

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula (Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area ...

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

, and

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

, possibly also in southern India and China.

Anatomy and appearance

It can grow to

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology. Overall length * Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish ...

and reaches sexual maturity at a length of 7 to 8 cm. The body is stocky, high and heavily flattened on the sides. The mouth is narrow, small and only slightly protractile (can be pushed forward). It is collected for the aquarium trade and also used as a food fish.

Ecology

It commonly inhabits slow-flowing and stagnant waters in medium-sized rivers, lakes, ponds and swamps and is mainly found near the banks where there is plenty of vegetation. In the Mekong region, it migrates to flooded fields during the rainy season and back to its home waters during the dry season. It feeds on algae, parts of plants, fruits, seeds, aquatic insects and small crustaceans.

References

Pristolepididae Fish of the Mekong Basin Freshwater fish of Borneo Fauna of Sumatra Fish of Cambodia Freshwater fish of Indonesia Fish of Laos Freshwater fish of Malaysia Fish of Myanmar Fish of Thailand Fish of Vietnam Fish described in 1851 Taxa named by Pieter Bleeker {{Rayfinned-fish-stub