Gnathonemus petersii, Elephantnose fish : fisheries, aquarium

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Gnathonemus petersii (Günther, 1862)

Elephantnose fish
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Gnathonemus petersii
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Osteoglossiformes (Bony tongues) > Mormyridae (Elephantfishes)
Etymology: Gnathonemus: Greek, gnathos = jaw + Greek, nema = filament (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Günther.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Freshwater; demersal; pH range: 6.0 - 8.0; dH range: 5 - 19. Tropical; 22°C - 28°C (Ref. 1672)

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Africa: Niger to Congo River basins (Ref. 3203). Widespread in the Congo basin (Ref. 1878, 4910, 11970, 41580, 41591, 106245, 106290). Also reported from Lake Tanganyika (Ref. 114071). Report from the Cuanza in Angola (Ref. 99599) unconfirmed in Ref. 120641. Reports from Lake Kivu are erroneous (Ref. 46152, 107916).

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 35.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 2915)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 25-31; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 32 - 36

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Occurs close to the bottom where it probes for food with the long snout. Territorial and usually aggressive towards members of its own species. This behavior has been shown to involve electric organ discharge (EOD) activity (Ref. 10011). Feeds mostly at night on worms and insects (Ref. 7020), probably aided by electro-sensory inputs (Ref. 10011). Electroreceptors are distributed over the entire head, the dorsal and ventral regions of the body, but absent from the side and the caudal peduncle where the electric organ is located (Ref. 10011). Sex-related EOD characteristics in this species has been demonstrated in the laboratory with freshly imported samples during the breeding season; such EOD dimorphism changed with time in captivity (Ref. 10764; 10766). Lead nitrate in water significantly increased EOD rate and selectively altered the EOD waveform of this species (Ref. 10469). Dubbed a `hearing specialist' having auditory abilities in the range of 100-2500 Hz, with `best frequencies' between 300 and 600 Hz (Ref. 10830). Aquarium keeping: in groups of 5 or more individuals; minimum aquarium size 150 cm; not recommended for home aquariums (Ref. 51539).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Gosse, J.-P., 1984. Mormyridae. p. 63-122. In J. Daget, J.-P. Gosse and D.F.E. Thys van den Audenaerde (eds.) Check-list of the freshwater fishes of Africa (CLOFFA). ORSTOM, Paris and MRAC, Tervuren. Vol. 1. (Ref. 3203)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 03 September 2019

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: subsistence fisheries; aquarium: commercial
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

More information

Common names
Synonyms
Metabolism
Predators
Ecotoxicology
Reproduction
Maturity
Spawning
Spawning aggregation
Fecundity
Eggs
Egg development
Age/Size
Growth
Length-weight
Length-length
Length-frequencies
Morphometrics
Morphology
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Recruitment
Abundance
BRUVS
References
Aquaculture
Aquaculture profile
Strains
Genetics
Electrophoreses
Heritability
Diseases
Processing
Nutrients
Mass conversion
Collaborators
Pictures
Stamps, Coins Misc.
Sounds
Ciguatera
Speed
Swim. type
Gill area
Otoliths
Brains
Vision

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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Alien/Invasive Species database | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | Public aquariums | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5625   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01318 (0.00612 - 0.02839), b=2.85 (2.67 - 3.03), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.1   ±0.34 se; based on food items.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Low to moderate vulnerability (33 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Unknown.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 169 [84, 395] mg/100g; Iron = 1.59 [0.74, 3.23] mg/100g; Protein = 17.7 [15.3, 20.0] %; Omega3 = 0.518 [0.209, 1.314] g/100g; Selenium = 70.2 [26.4, 176.7] μg/100g; VitaminA = 35.8 [12.9, 96.4] μg/100g; Zinc = 1.74 [1.14, 3.40] mg/100g (wet weight);