Glass knife fish

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Glass knife fish
Eigenmannia sp.

Eigenmannia sp.

Systematics
Overcohort : Clupeocephala
Cohort : Otomorpha
Sub-cohort : Ostariophysi
Otophysa
Order : New World Knifefish (Gymnotiformes)
Family : Glass knife fish
Scientific name
Sternopygidae
Cope , 1871

The glass knife fish (Sternopygidae) are a family of fish from the order of the New World knife fish (Gymnotiformes). The fish live in northern and central South America , south to the Río de la Plata , and in the Río Tuira in Panama . The smallest species Eigenmannia vicentespelaea lives in caves in the river basin of the Rio São Vicente and the Rio Tocantins . The biodiversity is greatest in the Amazon region .

features

The body of the glass knife fish is elongated like an eel, laterally compressed and transparent in many species of the genera Eigenmannia and Rhabdolichops . As with all knife fish, the anal fin is elongated and has become the main driving organ. Dorsal , caudal and pelvic fins are missing. Glass knife fish are twelve centimeters to 1.40 meters long, their eyes are often larger than those of their relatives and the same size or larger than the distance between the nostrils. They have several rows of small, brush-shaped teeth on both jaws. All glass knife fish can use converted muscle cells to generate an electric field that is used for orientation and communication with conspecifics.

Way of life

The fish are crepuscular and are often adapted to life in the middle and in the depths of the large rivers. They provide a large part of the biomass of all living things there. All glass knife fish live carnivorously on smaller invertebrates. Many species eat ground-dwelling prey or use their brush-shaped teeth to comb their food from roots and aquatic plants. Rhabdolichops species live on zooplankton .

Systematics

Today there are over 40 species in five genera. They include the only known fossil species of the New World knife fish, Humboldtichthys kirschbaumi , from the Upper Miocene of Bolivia .

Indefinite glass knife fish
Green knife fish ( Eigenmannia virescens )

literature

  • Joseph S. Nelson : Fishes of the World. 4th edition. John Wiley & Sons, New York NY 2006, ISBN 0-471-25031-7 .
  • James S. Albert: Family Sternopygidae (Glass Knifefishes, Rattail Knifefishes). In: Roberto E. Reis, Sven O. Kullander, Carl J. Ferraris: Check list of the freshwater fishes of South and Central America. EDIPURCS, Porto Alegre 2003, ISBN 85-7430-361-5 , pp. 487-491, online .

Individual evidence

  1. Glass knife fish on Fishbase.org (English)
  2. Peixoto, LAW, Dutra, GM & Wosiacki, WB (2015): The Electric Glass Knifefishes of the Eigenmannia trilineata species-group (Gymnotiformes: Sternopygidae): monophyly and description of seven new species. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 175, 384-414.

Web links

Commons : Glass knife fish (Sternopygidae)  - Collection of images, videos, and audio files