Taxonomy & naming
Ctenopoma maculatum was described by Alfred Thominot in 1886, with the type locality given as the San Benito River, Gabon (holotype MNHN 1885-0423). The species appears in Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes under the authority Thominot, 1886, and because it was described within Ctenopoma — where it remains — the authority is written without parentheses. A synonym, C. multifasciata Thominot, 1886, was described in the same year and is no longer considered valid.
The genus Ctenopoma, erected by Peters in 1844, belongs to the family Anabantidae (climbing gouramies), and within that family it forms a large African radiation of bushfish and climbing perch relatives. The name Ctenopoma combines the Greek kteis (comb) and poma (cover or lid), referring to the serrated preopercle that is a characteristic feature of the genus. The specific epithet maculatum is Latin for 'spotted' or 'blotched', likely referring to the patterning on the flanks. A 2022 checklist of the fishes of Gabon, published in the journal Cybium, places C. maculatum within the Lower Guinea ichthyofaunal province and records it from the Ogowe basin and adjacent coastal drainages.
Morphology
Ctenopoma maculatum reaches 6 in standard length, making it one of the larger species in a genus where most members fall between 7 and 4.5 in. The body is moderately robust and laterally compressed, as in other anabantids, with the characteristic serrated or comb-toothed preopercle that gives the genus its name and that distinguishes it from the otherwise superficially similar African snakeheads. The dorsal and anal fins are long-based, extending well toward the caudal peduncle, and the tail is rounded.
Live coloration is not fully documented in the literature, but the species epithet maculatum ('spotted') and trade observations suggest a pattern of darker blotches or spots against a brownish or olive base colour, consistent with the cryptic, substrate-matching appearance seen in other Ctenopoma. As labyrinth fishes, all Ctenopoma possess the suprabranchial labyrinth organ — a folded, richly vascularised accessory breathing structure housed above the gill chamber — which allows the fish to survive in oxygen-depleted water by gulping air at the surface.
Habitat
The species is recorded from rivers and tributaries across a broad swath of the Lower Guinea ichthyofaunal province: the Sanaga, Nyong, Ntem, Ivindo, Ogowe, and Rio Muni river systems spanning southern Cameroon, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea. FishBase characterises it as benthopelagic — occupying both mid-water and bottom zones — in freshwater environments. Plazi treatment records additionally place it in the Dja and Doume tributaries draining into the upper Sangha and thence the Congo Basin.
Like many Ctenopoma, it is likely associated with slow-moving to still sections of rivers and their floodplain pools and forest-edge lagoons, where dense riparian and aquatic vegetation provides cover for ambush feeding. Water temperatures in these equatorial rainforest rivers are warm year-round; FishBase gives approximately 72 °F as a reference temperature, and pH is recorded around 6.5, consistent with the slightly acidic, soft water typical of West and Central African lowland forest rivers. The possession of a labyrinth organ is an adaptation to precisely these environments — humid, often stagnant, seasonally oxygen-depleted waters — where gill respiration alone would be limiting.
Feeding
Ctenopoma maculatum is recorded as omnivorous, in line with the broad dietary habit documented across the genus. Larger Ctenopoma tend toward predatory behaviour, taking small fish, invertebrates, and larger aquatic insects, while smaller species or juveniles feed more heavily on invertebrates and organic detritus. A species reaching 6 in SL is likely a capable piscivore as an adult, using the cryptic colouration and sit-and-wait strategy typical of the genus to ambush prey.
In captivity, acclimated individuals accept meaty foods — strips of fish or prawn, earthworms, and large live or frozen invertebrates such as bloodworms and crickets. Good-quality carnivore pellets suited to the fish's mouth size can also be trained onto reluctant individuals over time. Like other labyrinth fish, C. maculatum requires access to the water's surface to breathe air; a tight-fitting lid that traps a warm, humid air layer above the water prevents chilling of the labyrinth organ, which can cause respiratory distress.
Mating
Ctenopoma maculatum belongs to a genus whose members are open-water egg-scatterers — free-spawning fish that release eggs into open water without constructing a nest and without providing parental care. This pattern, documented for the genus, contrasts with the bubble-nesting found in many Southeast Asian anabantids and reflects an independent evolutionary trajectory within the labyrinth fish clade.
Conditioning adults with abundant live and meaty foods and maintaining stable warm water temperatures are likely prerequisites for bringing the species into spawning condition. Males may display to females through colour intensification and fin extension, as documented in related species, though detailed courtship descriptions specific to C. maculatum are sparse in the published literature. The fish's large adult size and predatory habit mean that adults kept as a breeding pair must be well-fed to avoid aggression and egg predation.
Breeding
As an open-water egg-scatterer, C. maculatum releases buoyant or semi-buoyant eggs freely into the water column with no subsequent parental attention. The fertilised eggs drift toward the surface, developing without protection from either parent. This mode is in keeping with the broader pattern in Ctenopoma, where neither bubble-nest construction nor mouthbrooding has been documented for the genus.
Spawning in captivity has not been widely reported in the English-language hobby literature, and detailed parameters — clutch size, incubation period, fry size — are not reliably documented for this species specifically. By analogy with other large Ctenopoma, egg counts are likely substantial, incubation brief at tropical temperatures, and the resulting larvae initially tiny and planktonic, requiring the finest live foods (infusoria or rotifers) before graduating to nauplii. Separating adults from eggs immediately after spawning is essential given the species' predatory nature.
In the aquarium
Ctenopoma maculatum is an infrequently seen species in the hobby, reflecting its relative obscurity compared with more heavily traded African anabantids such as C. acutirostre (leopard bushfish) or C. kingsleyae. When available, it commands interest among specialists in West African biotope aquaria. Its large adult size — 6 in SL — means it requires a spacious aquarium: a tank of at least 47 in is appropriate for an adult, with dense planting and driftwood providing the hiding places and ambush points the fish expects from its forest-river habitat.
Water conditions should replicate the warm, slightly acidic, soft water of its native rivers: a temperature around 72–79 °F and a pH near 6.5 are reasonable targets, with low to moderate hardness. Filtration should produce a gentle to moderate current — these are not torrential-river fish — and the water surface should be calm enough that the fish can breathe air comfortably. A close-fitting lid is essential, both to retain the humid surface air the labyrinth organ requires and because, like all climbing perch relatives, C. maculatum can and does exit uncovered tanks. Tankmates must be chosen carefully: fish small enough to be eaten will be, and persistent fin-nippers will stress a large, somewhat sedentary ambush predator.
Conservation
Ctenopoma maculatum is assessed as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List, reflecting a wide distribution across multiple river drainages in Cameroon, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea and no documented evidence of rapid population decline. The species occupies a broad riverine range across the Lower Guinea ichthyofaunal province — from the Sanaga in the north to the Ogowe system and Rio Muni in the south — and does not appear to be subject to targeted commercial fishing or ornamental collection pressure at a level that would threaten the wider population.
Nevertheless, the riverine rainforests of West and Central Africa face ongoing pressure from logging, agricultural expansion, and associated sedimentation and water-quality changes. The species' dependence on well-structured, vegetated freshwater habitats means that sustained habitat degradation could affect local populations even if the range-wide assessment remains secure. No specific conservation measures are currently directed at C. maculatum, and its biology — diet, reproductive ecology, population dynamics — remains poorly studied relative to many other African freshwater fishes.