Osphronemus
genus of fishes
Osphronemus is a genus of large gouramis, the only genus within the subfamily Osphroneminae. These fish are known as the giant gouramis and are native to rivers, lakes, pools, swamps and floodplains in Southeast Asia, with O. exodon from the Mekong basin, O. laticlavius and O. septemfasciatus from Borneo, while O. goramy is relatively widespread. O. goramy has been introduced outside its native range in Asia, Africa and Australia.
All the species are highly prized as food fish, leading to farming of O. goramy and rearing of O. septemfasciatus. Osphronemus appear in the aquarium trade, but they are very long-lived, possibly reaching up to 40 years old, and require a very large tank with a strong filter.
Appearance
As suggested by their English name, they are by far the largest gouramis, reaching 50–70 cm (20–28 in) in standard length depending on the exact species involved. Possibly the largest recorded specimen, an O. septemfasciatus caught in Sarawak, was 72.4 cm (28.5 in) in standard length and weighed 20.5 kg (45 lb). Although the species are overall similar, they do differ in details of their pattern and colour, with some species having black or red sections or markings.
Behavior
Breeding has been described in detail for O. goramy: the male builds a bubble nest with plant material at the water's surface. The pair spawns nearby and the eggs are moved to the nest by the male, who guards them by himself.
The public source identifies “Osphronemus” as genus of fishes. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Osphronemus, genus and fishes.
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This entry incorporates text from “Osphronemus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.