Labyrinth fish
Labyrinth fish have a special labyrinth organ which makes it possible for them to absorb oxygen directly from the air. Thanks to this adaptation, labyrinth fish can live in waters where oxygen is scarce, e.g. stale puddles with a lot of decaying vegetation, since it just have to swim up to the surface for a sip of air when the oxygen levels in the water drops too low. Labyrinth fish are found in three different orders: Channiformes, Perciformes and Synbranchiformes. Channiformes contains the infamous snakeheads of the genus Channa, while Perciformes is home to several popular aquarium species like Kissing Gourami and Siamese Fighting Fish. Synbranchiformes species are rarely kept in aquarium since they are night-active eels that can reach a length of 100 cm (40 in). The Kissing Gourami and Siamese Fighting Fish are just two of several commonly kept members of the family Osphronemidae. You have probably heard of species such as Dwarf gourami (Colisa lalia), Pearl gourami (Trichogaster leerii), Chocolate gourami (Sphaerichthys osphromenoides), Croaking gourami (Trichopsis vittata), and Three spot gourami (Trichogaster trichopterus). All gouramis are native to Asia where they can be found in India and Pakistan to the west, across to the Malay Archipelago, and all the way to Korea in the east.
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