Knifefish
Encyclopedia
Knifefish may refer to several knife-shaped fishes:
- The Neotropical or weakly electric knifefishes, order GymnotiformesGymnotiformesThe Gymnotiformes are a group of teleost bony fishes commonly known as the Neotropical or South American knifefishes. They have long bodies and swim using undulations of their elongated anal fin...
, containing five families:- Family Gymnotidae (banded knifefishes and electric eel)
- Family RhamphichthyidaeRhamphichthyidaeSand knifefishes are freshwater fishes of the Rhamphichthyidae family, from South America. There are only 3 genera and around 15 species in this group....
(sand knifefishes) - Family HypopomidaeHypopomidaeHypopomidae is a family of fishes in the order Gymnotiformes known as the bluntnose knifefish. They may also be called grass or leaf knifefishes...
(bluntnose knifefishes) - Family Sternopygidae (glass and rat-tail knifefishes)
- Family Apteronotidae (ghost knifefishes)
- The featherbacks, family NotopteridaeNotopteridaeThe family Notopteridae contains eight species of osteoglossiform fishes, commonly known as featherbacks and knifefishes. They are small fishes living in freshwater or brackish environments in Africa and South-east Asia....
. - The aba, Gymnarchus niloticusGymnarchus niloticusGymnarchus niloticus – commonly known as the aba, aba aba, frankfish, freshwater rat-tail or African knifefish – is an electric fish, and the only species in the genus Gymnarchus and the family Gymnarchidae within the order Osteoglossiformes...
- Four other unrelated fishes not in any of the above:
- Grey knifefishGrey knifefishThe grey knifefish, Bathystethus cultratus, is a sea chub of the genus Bathystethus, found in New Zealand.-References:* Tony Ayling & Geoffrey Cox, Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand, ISBN 0-00-216987-8...
, Bathystethus cultratus. - Blue knifefishBlue knifefishThe blue knifefish, Labracoglossa nitida, is a sea chub of the genus Labracoglossa, found off eastern Australia, and around offshore islands of the east coast of New Zealand, to depths of 20 m...
, Labracoglossa nitida. - Collared knifefish or Finscale razorfish, Cymolutes torquatus.
- Jack-knifefishJack-knifefishThe jack-knifefish or spotted drum is a small fish, typically between 6 and 9 inches, that can occasionally be found on coral reefs in the middle western Atlantic Ocean, in the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, Florida and the Bahamas.- Habitat :When jack-knifefish are young, they generally...
, Equetus lanceolatus.
- Grey knifefish