Description
The main difference to K. minor is the longer anal fin of the Glass Catfish, which in the latter has more than 54 and up to 68 rays. The present species also grows much larger – 15 cm (5.9 in) standard length, or twice the size of its relative; specimens measuring as much as 24.5 cm (9.6 in) standard length are reputed to exist. Its head is also lighter on average.
Like the Ghost Catfish, K. bicirrhis is transparent except for the head, bones, and the internal organs which are located directly behind the head. They are transparent because, like all catfish, they are scaleless, and catfish within the genus Kryptopterus lack body pigment. When struck by light, they show an iridescence, and when dead, they turn milky white. They have two long barbels, which are as long again as the body in front of the anal fin. The dorsal fin is reduced to a tiny triangle, and the pectoral fins are longer than the head.
Read more about this topic: Glass Catfish
Famous quotes containing the word description:
“Everything to which we concede existence is a posit from the standpoint of a description of the theory-building process, and simultaneously real from the standpoint of the theory that is being built. Nor let us look down on the standpoint of the theory as make-believe; for we can never do better than occupy the standpoint of some theory or other, the best we can muster at the time.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)
“Why does philosophy use concepts and why does faith use symbols if both try to express the same ultimate? The answer, of course, is that the relation to the ultimate is not the same in each case. The philosophical relation is in principle a detached description of the basic structure in which the ultimate manifests itself. The relation of faith is in principle an involved expression of concern about the meaning of the ultimate for the faithful.”
—Paul Tillich (1886–1965)
“The great object in life is Sensation—to feel that we exist, even though in pain; it is this “craving void” which drives us to gaming, to battle, to travel, to intemperate but keenly felt pursuits of every description whose principal attraction is the agitation inseparable from their accomplishment.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)