Mormyrus

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Mormyrus
Mormyrus.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Osteoglossiformes
Family: Mormyridae
Genus: Mormyrus
Linnaeus, 1758
Species

See text

Synonyms
  • MormyrodesGill 1862
  • Mormyrus (Scrophicephalus) Swainson 1838
  • Scrophicephalus(Swainson 1838)
  • SolenomormyrusBleeker 1874

Mormyrus is a genus of ray-finned fish in the family Mormyridae. They are weakly electric, enabling them to navigate, to find their prey, and to communicate with other electric fish. [1]

Contents

Species

Mormyrus caballus (above), Mormyrus rume (below) Materiaux pour la faune du Congo (6299123534).jpg
Mormyrus caballus (above), Mormyrus rume (below)
Mormyrus hasselquistii (above), Mormyrus niloticus (below) The fishes of the Nile (Pl. XI) (6961605933).jpg
Mormyrus hasselquistii (above), Mormyrus niloticus (below)

There are currently 22 recognized species in this genus: [2] [3]

In culture

Bronze figurine of Oxyrhynchus fish, Late Period-Ptolemaic Egypt Oxyrhynchus fish Late Period-Ptolemaic (cropped).jpg
Bronze figurine of Oxyrhynchus fish, Late Period-Ptolemaic Egypt
The Medjed was a sacred fish in Ancient Egypt. At the city of Per-Medjed, better known as Oxyrhynchus, whose name means "sharp-nosed" after the fish, archaeologists have found fishes depicted as bronze figurines, mural paintings, or wooden coffins in the shape of fishes with downturned snouts, with horned sun-disc crowns like those of the goddess Hathor. The depictions have been described as resembling members of the genus Mormyrus. [4]

References

  1. Bullock, Theodore H.; Bodznick, D. A.; Northcutt, R. G. (1983). "The phylogenetic distribution of electroreception: Evidence for convergent evolution of a primitive vertebrate sense modality" (PDF). Brain Research Reviews . 6 (1): 25–46. doi:10.1016/0165-0173(83)90003-6. hdl: 2027.42/25137 . PMID   6616267. S2CID   15603518.
  2. "Mormyridae" (PDF). Deeplyfish- fishes of the world. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  3. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Mormyrus". FishBase . June 2017 version.
  4. Van Neer, Wim; Gonzalez, Jérôme (2019). "A Late Period fish deposit at Oxyrhynchus (el-Bahnasa, Egypt)". In Peters, Joris; McGlynn, George; Goebel, Veronika (eds.). Documenta Archaeobiologiae Animals: Cultural Identifiers In Ancient Societies? (PDF). Rahden, Westfalia, Germany: Verlag Marie Leidorf. ISBN   978-3-89646-674-7.