Mormyrops
| Mormyrops | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Giant Nile Pike ( Mormyrops anguilloides ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Mormyrops | ||||||||||||
| Müller , 1843 |
Mormyrops is a genus of African freshwater fish from the Nilhechte family(Mormyridae). The genus is widespread in Africa and occurs in West Africa, the Nile , the Congo Basin , in East and Southern Africa.
features
Mormyrops species grow to be 15 to 150 centimeters long. With the giant Nilhecht ( Mormyrops anguilloides ) belongs to them the largest Nilhechtart. Their body is moderately elongated to eel-like. The dorsal fin is shorter than the anal fin, its beginning lies behind the anal fin origin. The pelvic fins are closer to the pectoral fins than to the anal fin. The mouth is terminal or slightly below, in the two species of the genus Oxymormyrus ( M. boulengeri & M. zanclirostris ), recently synonymous with Mormyrops , drawn out into a long tube. In the front of each jaw there is a single row of teeth consisting of 10 to 32 teeth that are close together. The jaw teeth are spade-shaped or indented. The teeth on the parasphenoid and tongue are extremely small and sparse. The nostrils are close together, sometimes far from the eyes. The tail fin stalk is relatively short in many species.
Like all Nilhechte, Mormyrops species are capable of electrical communication and electrical orientation. The fish are inconspicuous, mostly monochrome grayish or brownish in color.
Systematics
After Petrocephalus and Myomyrus, Mormyrops is the most basal genus of the Nilhechte. The tubular-mouthed species M. boulengeri and M. zanclirostris , which in the past were placed in their own genus ( Oxymormyrus ), are now classified as Mormyrops .
species
The genus includes 21 species:
- Giant Nile Pike ( Mormyrops anguilloides ) (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Mormyrops attenuatus Boulenger, 1898
- Mormyrops batesianus Boulenger, 1909
- Tube-mouthed Nilhecht ( Mormyrops boulengeri ) (Pellegrin, 1900)
- Mormyrops breviceps Steindachner, 1894
- Mormyrops caballus Pellegrin, 1927
- Mormyrops citernii Vinciguerra, 1912
- Mormyrops curtus Boulenger, 1899
- Mormyrops curviceps Roman, 1966
- Mormyrops engystoma Boulenger, 1898
- Mormyrops furcidens Pellegrin, 1900
- Mormyrops intermedius Vinciguerra, 1928
- Mormyrops lineolatus Boulenger, 1898
- Mormyrops mariae (Schilthuis, 1891)
- Mormyrops masuianus Boulenger, 1898
- Mormyrops microstoma Boulenger, 1898
- Mormyrops nigricans Boulenger, 1899
- Mormyrops oudoti Daget, 1954
- Mormyrops parvus Boulenger, 1899
- Mormyrops sirenoides Boulenger, 1898
- Mormyrops zanclirostris (Günther, 1867)
literature
- Melanie Stiassny, Guy Teugels & Carl D. Hopkins: The Fresh and Brackish Water Fishes of Lower Guinea, West-Central Africa, Volume 1. ISBN 9789074752206
Web links
- Mormyrops on Fishbase.org (English)
- Mormyrops Müller, 1843