Electric catfish
Electric catfish | ||||||||||||
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Malapterurus electricus |
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Systematics | ||||||||||||
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Scientific name | ||||||||||||
Malapteruridae | ||||||||||||
Bleeker , 1858 |
The electric catfish (Malapteruridae) ( Gr ., Mala = soft, pteron = fin, oura = tail) live in the fresh waters of tropical Africa and the Nile . The well -shake catfish animals referred to by electroplax to stun their prey using electric shocks.
features
Electric catfish are twelve centimeters up to 1.22 meters long and weigh up to 25 kg. Their bodies are elongated, cylindrical, and mostly gray-brown in color on their backs and sides. They don't have a dorsal fin . A large adipose fin is located just before the tail fin stalk . The anal fin is also far back. The caudal fin is rounded. All fins are without fin spines. Electric catfish have three pairs of barbels , nasal barbels are absent. The shoulder girdle is loosely connected to the skull. The swim bladder has forward protrusions, two in the genus Malapterurus , three in Paradoxoglanis .
The electrical organ is derived from the shoulder muscles and surrounds most of the body's length. Malapterurus electricus can generate electrical surges with a voltage of 350 volts.
Systematics
In the classical system, the quiver catfish are placed in the superfamily Siluroidea. According to molecular biological studies, they belong to the "Big Africa" group within the subordination of the Siluroidei.
Genera and species
- Genus Malapterurus Agassiz, 1846
- Malapterurus barbatus Norris, 2002
- Malapterurus beninensis Murray, 1855
- Malapterurus cavalliensis Roberts, 2000
- Malapterurus electricus (Gmelin, 1789)
- Malapterurus leonensis Roberts, 2000
- Malapterurus melanochir Norris, 2002
- Malapterurus microstomus Poll & Gosse, 1969
- Malapterurus minjiriya Sagua, 1987
- Malapterurus monsembeensis Roberts, 2000
- Malapterurus murrayi Norris, 2002
- Malapterurus occidentalis Norris, 2002
- Malapterurus oguensis Sauvage, 1879
- Malapterurus polli Norris, 2002
- Malapterurus punctatus Norris, 2002
- Malapterurus shirensis Roberts, 2000
- Malapterurus stiassnyae Norris, 2002
- Malapterurus tanganyikaensis Roberts, 2000
- Malapterurus tanoensis Roberts, 2000
- Malapterurus teugelsi Norris, 2002
- Genus Paradoxoglanis
- Paradoxoglanis caudivittatus Norris, 2002
- Paradoxoglanis cryptus Norris, 2002
- Paradoxoglanis parvus Norris, 2002
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ng, H. 2000: Malapterurus electricus , Animal Diversity Web. Accessed February 9th. 2010 Malapterurus electricus .
- ↑ JP Sullivan, Lundberg JG; Hardman M: A phylogenetic analysis of the major groups of catfishes (Teleostei: Siluriformes) using rag1 and rag2 nuclear gene sequences . In: Mol Phylogenet Evol. . 41, No. 3, 2006, pp. 636-62. doi : 10.1016 / j.ympev.2006.05.044 .
literature
- Joseph S. Nelson : Fishes of the world . 4th edition. John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken 2006, ISBN 978-0-471-25031-9 , pp. 164 .
Web links
Electric catfish on Fishbase.org (English)