Campona Tropicarium Zoo and Oceanarium - Budapest, Hungary

Location:

GPS coordinates: Latitude 47°24'27", Longitude 19°1'4" (N47 24.45 - E19 1.07) Map

Blue discus fish (Symphysodon aequifasciatus)

The South American blue discus (Symphysodon aequifasciatus) fish parents feed their young with a so-called epidermal mucus, that appers on their skin in the brood care period. On the specimen that are kept in captivity sometimes the mucus is not produced properly, in this case the juveniles need to be fed in a different way, which is not so easy.

Note that the milk that is produced by the mammals is the secretion of the mammary glands in a certain perion, and that was actually evolved from the sweat glands during the millions of years. So if we step back a little bit and look to the big picture, the discus fish is "breastfeeding" its young. This form of the feeding and care is not so rare in the animal kingdom, as you might think, but the people often tend to overrate the mammals against the other animal (and plant) species.