Glass knifefish
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| Glass knifefishes Fossil range: Upper Miocene - Recent |
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 Eigenmannia lineata
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Glass knifefishes are fishes in the family Sternopygidae in the order Gymnotiformes. Species are also known as rattail knifefishes.[1]
These fishes inhabit freshwater streams and rivers in Panama and South America.[1] Many sternopygid species are specialized for life in the deep (>20 m) swiftly moving waters of large river channels, like that of the Amazon and its major tributares (Crampton et al., 2004) . Sternopygus species inhabit both streams and rivers.[2]
Many species are highly compressed laterally and translucent in life.[2] These fish have villiform (brush-like) teeth on the upper and lower jaws. The snout is relatively short. The eyes are relatively large, with a diameter equal to or greater than the distance between nares. The anal fin originates at the isthmus (the strip of flesh on the ventral surface between the gill covers). The maximum length is 140 cm in Sternopygus macrurus.
Eigenmannia vicentespelea is the only cave-dwelling gymnotiform. Humboldtichthys kirschbaumi (formerly genus Ellisella) from Upper Miocene of Bolivia is the only fossil gymnotiform.[1]
These fish have a tone-like electric organ discharge (EOD) that occurs monophasically.
Some of these species are aquarium fishes.
[edit] References
- Albert, J.S. 2003. Family Sternopygidae. Pp 493-497 in R.E. Reis, S.O. Kullander & C.J. Ferraris, Jr. (eds). Checklist of the Freshwater Fishes of South and Central America. Edipucrs, Porto Alegre, 735p.
- Crampton, W.G.R., K. Hulen, and J.S. Albert. 2004. Sternopygus branco, a new species of Neotropical electric fish (Gymnotiformes: Sternopygidae) from the lowland Amazon basin, with descriptions of ecology and electric organ discharges. Copeia, 2004(2): 244-258.
- ^ a b c Nelson, Joseph, S. (2006). Fishes of the World. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.. ISBN 0471250317.
- ^ a b "Sternopygidae". FishBase. Ed. Rainer Froese and Daniel Pauly. Apr 2007 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2007.
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