Notopteridae
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| iFeatherbacks and knifefishes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||
|
Chitala |
The family Notopteridae contains eight species of osteoglossiform (bony-tongued) fishes, commonly known as featherbacks and knifefishes. They are small fishes living in freshwater or brackish environments in Africa and South-east Asia. They are elongated in shape and their fins run the length of the body, with the resulting appearance of a knife. The name is from Greek noton meaning "back" and pteron meaning "fin".
With the denotation of "knifefish", the Notopterids should not be confused with Gymnotiforms, the electric knifefishes. Although their manner of swimming is similar with the anal fin extending down the body to allow locomotion, the two groups are not closely related.
Notopterids have specialized swim bladders. The organ extends throughout the body and even into the fins in some cases. It can absorb oxygen from air and also functions to produce sound.
A few of the larger species, especially Chitala chitala, are food fish and occasionally aquarium pets.
There are eight species in four genera:
- Genus Chitala
- Genus Notopterus
- Bronze Featherback, Notopterus notopterus (Pallas, 1769).
- Genus Papyrocranus
- Reticulate Knifefish, Papyrocranus afer (Günther, 1868).
- Papyrocranus congoensis (Nichols & La Monte, 1932).
- Genus Xenomystus
- African Knifefish, Xenomystus nigri (Günther, 1868).
[edit] References
- Berra, Tim M. (2001). Freshwater Fish Distribution. San Diego: Academic Press. ISBN 0120931567
- "Notopteridae". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. January 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.
