Appearance
The clown knifefish is very distinct, with normally silvery gray with a long knife like body (laterally compressed) and a long anal fin that gives these fish their common name. Mature fish normally have 5-10 (or even more) black spots ringed with white that usually increase in number and size as the fish grows. Juvenile fish have striped bands instead of spots. Their long anal fins are used to allow the fish to make graceful forward and backward movements.
The clown knifefish grows to a fairly large size, up to 100 cm and 5 kg in the wild. It has 2 nasal tentacles above their large toothed mouth. In the center of the body there is a flaglike dorsal fin and has no ventral fins. Most clown knifefish are afflicted with cloudy eye color when they age, it is perfectly normal.
Read more about this topic: Chitala Ornata
Famous quotes containing the word appearance:
“Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”
—Bible: Hebrew, 1 Samuel 16:7.
“To educate the wise man, the State exists; and with the appearance of the wise man, the State expires. The appearance of character makes the state unnecessary. The wise man is the State.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Never before has a generation of parents faced such awesome competition with the mass media for their children’s attention. While parents tout the virtues of premarital virginity, drug-free living, nonviolent resolution of social conflict, or character over physical appearance, their values are daily challenged by television soaps, rock music lyrics, tabloid headlines, and movie scenes extolling the importance of physical appearance and conformity.”
—Marianne E. Neifert (20th century)