Mormyrus | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Osteoglossiformes |
Family: | Mormyridae |
Subfamily: | Mormyrinae |
Genus: | Mormyrus Linnaeus, 1758 |
Species | |
See text | |
Synonyms | |
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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]
There are currently 22 recognized species in this genus: [2] [3]
The Mormyridae, sometimes called "elephantfish", are a superfamily of weakly electric fish in the order Osteoglossiformes native to Africa. It is by far the largest family in the order, with around 200 species. Members of the family can be popular, if challenging, aquarium species. These fish have a large brain size and unusually high intelligence.
Peters's elephant-nose fish is an African freshwater elephantfish in the genus Gnathonemus. Other names in English include elephantnose fish, long-nosed elephant fish, and Ubangi mormyrid, after the Ubangi River. The Latin name petersii is probably for the German naturalist Wilhelm Peters. The fish uses electrolocation to find prey, and has the largest brain-to-body oxygen use ratio of all known vertebrates.
Labeo is a genus of carps in the family Cyprinidae. They are found in freshwater habitats in the tropics and subtropics of Africa and Asia.
Brycinus is a genus of ray-finned fish in the family Alestiidae. Like other "African characids", they were formerly included in the Characidae but are actually somewhat more distantly related Characiformes.
Distichodus is a genus of freshwater fish in the family Distichodontidae found in Africa.
Marcusenius is a genus of the elephantfish group native to Africa. Its members are highly diverse in size, with the smallest species reaching less than 15 cm (6 in) and the largest more than 1 m (3.3 ft).
Pollimyrus is a genus of elephantfishes native to Africa.
Mormyrops is a genus of weakly electric fish in the family Mormyridae from freshwater in Africa. They are characterized by an elongate head measuring twice as long as high, and no teeth on the palate or the tongue. The genus includes the largest member of the mormyrid family, the cornish jack at up to 1.5 m (4.9 ft) in length.
The subfamily Mormyrinae contains all but one of the genera of the African freshwater fish family Mormyridae in the order Osteoglossiformes. They are often called elephantfish due to a long protrusion below their mouths used to detect buried invertebrates that is suggestive of a tusk or trunk. They can also be called tapirfish.
Campylomormyrus is a genus of elephantfish in the family Mormyridae.
Cyphomyrus is a genus of ray-finned fish in the family Mormyridae, the freshwater elephantfishes.
Myomyrus is a genus of elephantfish in the family Mormyridae. Its members reach about 25–30 cm (10–12 in) in length and are restricted to the Congo River Basin in Africa.
Oxymormyrus is a small genus of elephantfish in the family Mormyridae. Its members reach about 25–27 cm (10–11 in) in length and are restricted to the Congo, Campo, Kouilou-Niari, Nyanga and Ogowe river basins in Middle Africa.
Petrocephalus is a genus of ray-finned fish in the family Mormyridae. All the fish species of this genus are endemic to Africa.
Stomatorhinus is a genus of small elephantfish in the family Mormyridae.
Mormyrus longirostris, commonly referred as the eastern bottle-nosed mormyrid, is a medium-sized ray-finned fish species belonging to the family Mormyridae. It was originally described by Wilhelm Peters in Monatsberichte der Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1852.
Medjed were a kind of elephantfish worshipped at Oxyrhynchus (Ὀξύρρυγχος) in ancient Egyptian religion.
Enteromius is a genus of small to medium-sized cyprinid fish native to tropical Africa. Most species were placed in the genus Barbus.
The Mormyroidea are a superfamily of fresh water fishes endemic to Africa that, together with the families Hiodontidae, Osteoglossidae, Pantodontidae and Notopteridae, represents one of the main groups of living Osteoglossiformes. They stand out for their use of weak electric fields, which they use to orient themselves, reproduce, feed, and communicate.
Mormyrus rume is a species of electric fish in the family Mormyridae, found in the basins of the Gambia, Senegal, Niger, Volta, Chad, Bandama, Sassandra, Komoé, Mono, Ouémé, Ogun and Culufi rivers, among others.