Siamese fighting fish
Betta splendens
— Where the name comes from
Betta comes perhaps from ikan bettah, the fish’s name in a South-East Asian language, or from an ancient warrior tribe, the Bettah; splendens is Latin, “shining”, from the vivid colours. The common name comes from the aggression of the males, bred for centuries in Thailand precisely to fight.
— Facts
- Group
- Fish · Actinopterygii · Chondrichthyes
- Order
- Labyrinth fishes
- Habitat
- Rice paddies, ponds, poorly oxygenated ditches
- Range
- The Mekong basin: Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam
- Size
- 5–7 cm
- Diet
- Carnivore — insect larvae, zooplankton
- Lifespan
- 2–4 years
— Characteristics
- 01
It breathes air at the surface through a special organ, the labyrinth: it survives in oxygen-poor water.
- 02
The males puff up and flare their fins when they meet a rival.
- 03
The male builds a nest of air bubbles and saliva, where he guards the eggs.
— What sets it apart
The fighting fish breathes air: it has a unique organ, the labyrinth, that lets it take oxygen straight from the surface, so it can live in stagnant pools and paddy fields where other fish would suffocate. The males are so territorial that they will not tolerate even their own image: put before a mirror, they flare gills and fins and “fight” the reflection. The domestic forms, selected over centuries, flaunt colours and tails the modest brown-green wild fish never had.
