The marbled lungfish, "Protopterus aethiopicus", is found in Africa. The marbled lungfish is smooth, elongated, and cylindrical with deeply embedded scales. The tail is very long and tapers at the end. They are the largest of the African lungfish species as they can reach a length of up to 200 cm. The pectoral and pelvic fins are also very long and thin, almost spaghetti-like. The newly hatched young have branched external gills much like those of newts. After 2 to 3 months the young transform (called metamorphosis) into the adult form, losing the external gills for gill openings. These fish have a yellowish gray or pinkish toned ground color with dark slate-gray splotches, creating a marbling or leopard effect over the body and fins. The color pattern is darker along the top and lighter below. The marbled lungfish has the largest known genome of any vertebrate, with 133 billion base pairs or building blocks in its DNA double helix. The only organisms known to have more base pairs are protist "Polychaos dubium" and flowering plant "Paris japonica" at 670 billion and 150 billion, respectively.