| any of several freshwater fishes of the order Labyrinthi, found in southeastern Asia and Africa, having a labyrinthine structure above each gill chamber enabling them to breathe air while out of water. |
labyrinth fish
any of the small tropical fish of the suborder Anabantoidei (order Perciformes). Labyrinth fishes, like most other fishes, breathe with their gills, but they also possess a supplemental breathing structure, the labyrinth, for which they are named. This apparatus, located in a chamber above the gills, is liberally supplied with blood vessels. It enables the fishes to use oxygen from air gulped in through the mouth and thus to survive out of, or in oxygen-poor, water.
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