Petrocephalus bovei (Valenciennes, 1847)
photo by Mody, K.

Family:  Mormyridae (Elephantfishes)
Max. size:  11.5 cm SL (male/unsexed); max.weight: 30.0 g; max. reported age: 3 years
Environment:  demersal; freshwater, potamodromous
Distribution:  Africa: Chad, Niger, Volta, Gambia and Senegal basins, including the Nile. Also known from Côte d'Ivoire (Ref. 272).
Diagnosis:  Dorsal spines (total): 0-0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 21-28; Anal spines: 0-0; Anal soft rays: 27-35. body depth 2.9-3.7 x SL, anal base 3.2-4.7 x SL, caudal peduncle height 13.3-19.3 x SL. Eye diameter 2.7-4.6 x head length. Uniformly brilliant silver color, sometimes grayish or brownish.
Biology:  Affinities: P. pellegrini. Generates electric organ discharge (EOD) of short duration that seems to correlate with aggregative behavior of the species (Ref. 14060; 10601). EOD temporal pattern cues have been shown to play a role in species recognition for P. bovei (Ref. 10600). A ratio measure between olfactory and visual receptor areas suggests that this species relies more on visual than olfactory information (Ref. 10839). A fractional spawner (Ref. 10605; 10606).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC); Date assessed: 04 June 2019 Ref. (130435)
Threat to humans:  harmless


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