Sail-fin
Polypterus senegalus Cuvier, 1829
Status not recordedbony fish
The sail-fin (Polypterus senegalus) is a species in the family Polypteridae, order Polypteriformes.
No freely licensed photo yet
Quick facts about the sail-fin
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the sail-fin live?
Not recorded
Where has it been introduced?
The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the sail-fin as introduced in 1 country.
Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).
Is the sail-fin endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the sail-fin classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classCladistii
- orderPolypteriformes
- familyPolypteridae
- genusPolypterus
- SpeciesPolypterus senegalus Cuvier, 1829
Synonyms Polypterus arnaudi, Polypterus arnaudii, Polypterus senagalus, Polypterus senegalensis, Polypterus senegallus, Polypterus senegalus meridionalis, Polypterus senegalus senegalus
Other names and names in other languages (52)
- Cuvier's bichirEnglish
- Dinosaur bichirEnglish
- Gray bichirEnglish
- Senegal bichirEnglish
- Otellalz
- EmsirArabic
- bichir senegalskýCzech
- Senegal-bikirDanish
- Grauer FlösselhechtGerman
- DingDinka
- BichirMiddle English
- DégéEwe
- ViherniilinhaukiFinnish
- DekaIrish
- GwandoHausa
- ポリプテルス・セネガルスJapanese
- Gong kakartekim
- KesklaKrio
- JeyeiMende
- Sayomnk
- KuilwaafoMossi
- Kusakpanup
- JuathNuer
- Wielopletwiec senegalskiPolish
- Bichir-de-SenegalPortuguese
- Сенегальский многопёрRussian
- Mtontarub
- Otwelshk
- KeskiaTimne
- Senegal bişiriTurkish
- Nagirtuv
- Otelroot
- KhâbWolof
- AdagbaYoruba
- 塞內加爾多鰭魚Chinese
- Kukuzne
- AbshirArabic
- AbshireArabic
- Dabib el hutArabic
- Senegal-FlösselhechtGerman
- AgwerDinka
- AdekeEwe
- AlidekaeEwe
- SanmekiEwe
- Gong kekertekim
- KutenkellieKrio
- Wielopłetwiec senegalskiPolish
- Nagirituv
- Kambaniokaroot
- KhabéWolof
- SannkaWolof
- Gbarangazne
Relatives of the sail-fin
Other species in the same genus Polypterus.
Ornate bichir
Polypterus ornatipinnis
Nile bichir
Polypterus bichir
Fathead bichir
Polypterus weeksii
Barred bichir
Polypterus delhezi
Guinean bichir
Polypterus ansorgii
Saddled bichir
Polypterus endlicherii
CompareSail-fin vs Ornate bichirSail-fin vs Nile bichirSail-fin vs Fathead bichirSail-fin vs Barred bichir
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
Is the sail-fin an invasive species?
The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the sail-fin as introduced in 1 country: Mexico, but does not flag it as invasive in any of them.
What kind of animal is the sail-fin?
The sail-fin (Polypterus senegalus) belongs to the family Polypteridae in the order Polypteriformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-13. How this page is put together.
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Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
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Pagad, S., Genovesi, P., Carnevali, L., Schigel, D. & McGeoch, M.A. (2018) Introducing the Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species. Scientific Data 5: 170202. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.202. Country checklists published through GBIF by the IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group. - LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
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Logghe, G., Batsleer, F., Maes, D. et al. (2025) An in-depth dataset of northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits. Biodiversity Data Journal 13: e146785. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.13.e146785. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13379714 - Palmer Archipelago penguin measurements (Palmer Station LTER) · CC0 1.0 · 0.1.0
Gorman, K.B., Williams, T.D. & Fraser, W.R. (2014) Ecological sexual dimorphism and environmental variability within a community of Antarctic penguins (genus Pygoscelis). PLoS ONE 9(3): e90081. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0090081. Data: Palmer Station Antarctica LTER, via Horst, A.M., Hill, A.P. & Gorman, K.B. (2020) palmerpenguins. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3960218 - ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
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CreatureData. (2026). Sail-fin (Polypterus senegalus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/sail-fin
“Sail-fin (Polypterus senegalus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/sail-fin.
@misc{sail_fin_2026,
title = {Sail-fin (Polypterus senegalus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/sail-fin},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-13}
}