Any help with biological name of this fella please

[Reyno Gower]

133161331713318
In our area they are only known as " dolfyntjies".
Find them in the lower part of Crocodile river around Nelspruit, Malalane to Komatipoort and in Komatiriver from at Mozambique border (don`t know they might occur elsewhere as well).
Rarely see them during the day but cannot resist a light shining on the water at night.
I managed to save these from a local fisherman who use them for live bait catching Tiger fish.

[azurekoi]

Mormyrops engystoma - Baby whale in English....nice save Dude....shot!

[Firefly]

Do you know how much those cost here! I think I have only seen 1 in an LFS in EL. Elephant nose fish are +-R100, a similar fish, and you find a fisherman who is using them as bait...Good save man!

[azurekoi]

Firefly.... This species is BL,like all indigenous fish.... ther eare another 2 kinds of worm jawed Mormyrids you find within our borders.... the most commonly imported Baby whale is Petrocephalus bovei bovei -darker and with a rounder,blunter face than this guy.... R100 is actually not a bad price for one of them...

[Firefly]

Thanks for clearing that up azurekoi

[Good_Times]

I believe it might be either Marcusenius macrolepidotus :http://research.amnh.org/vz/ichthyology/congo/mormyridLIVE/images/Marcusenius macrolepidotus.jpg
http://www.boldsystems.org/pics/_w300/HVDBF/IMG_1454%2B324668112.JPG
also commonly known as the bulldog, commonly used as bait for tigerfish in zambezi and okovango or

Marcusenius pongolensis :http://content63.eol.org/content/2011/10/14/19/72584_580_360.jpg
also known as the southern bulldog

@Reyno Gower (http://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/member.php?u=2149) how common is tigerfish in the crocodile river ?
I have seen a pic of someone catching a very small juvenile, but thought the only place where you can target them consistently in S.A is Jozini dam ?

and nice save indeed

[Reyno Gower]

Good_Times, Tiger fish are quite common in most of the rivers in the Mpumalanga lowveld area.
Around Malalane and Komatipoort where I stay we find them in Crocodile and Komati rivers as well as farm dams, personally I have seen specimens of 6 to 8 kg being caught.
In Kruger National Park they are found in most of the larger rivers as well ie Sabie and Olifants. Unfortunately no fishing allowed unless you want a "free" weekend in Skukuza. A large piece of the Crocodile is also a no fishing zone as it is one of the few places where the border is on the opposite bank of the river and not in the middle as commonly known elsewhere. A friend of mine got caught fishing on his farm bordering the Crocodile river and got "free"weekend in Skukuza meaning:free board and lodge in SAP cells until next court day and R5000 fine for poaching.

[Good_Times]

It's nice to hear of big guys like that still lurking in the rivers.
Did your'e friend at least catch some descent size fish on his expensive outing ?
I don't understand why fishing isn't allowed in parts of the crocodile, is it because of conservation or border security ?
and on which part of the river is the border is it on the S.A side ?

Just be careful of the catfish :bigsmile: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/4977904/Zoologist-swims-with-lioness-to-escape-heat-of-South-Africa.html

[Reyno Gower]

I don't understand why fishing isn't allowed in parts of the crocodile, is it because of conservation or border security ?

Good_Times, this is only regarding the stretch of river coming out of the Crocodile gorge (mountain range between Nelspruit and the area known as "Onderberg").
At Matsulu the Kruger park border turns away from the river towards Hazyview.Starting at Matsulu passing Kaapmuiden, Malalane, Hectorspruit all the way to Komatipoort the Crocodile river forms the border and other than most cases where the middle of the river is the border along this stretch the border is on the opposite side of the river meaning the river and the furthest bank is actually Kruger Park property.
We use to get special permits to fish in the river but due to the fact that if you allow one you must allow all and with that certain members of our lovely rainbow nation just utterly harvesting all they can get their hands on this was unfortunately stopped by National Parks.

[Good_Times]

@Good_Times (http://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/member.php?u=2502), this is only regarding the stretch of river coming out of the Crocodile gorge (mountain range between Nelspruit and the area known as "Onderberg").
At Matsulu the Kruger park border turns away from the river towards Hazyview.Starting at Matsulu passing Kaapmuiden, Malalane, Hectorspruit all the way to Komatipoort the Crocodile river forms the border and other than most cases where the middle of the river is the border along this stretch the border is on the opposite side of the river meaning the river and the furthest bank is actually Kruger Park property.
We use to get special permits to fish in the river but due to the fact that if you allow one you must allow all and with that certain members of our lovely rainbow nation just utterly harvesting all they can get their hands on this was unfortunately stopped by National Parks.

Thanx for explaining Reyno I get it now.

I know what you mean, sadly this the case in the lower orange river in terms of the yellowfish, especially the large mouth yellows as they are more targeted because of larger size. Their numbers are much less than smallmouth and the females take 8 years before their old enough to spawn and males 6. There is a certain spot where you can find people fishing every single day hauling out fish.