Tag Archive: senses cluster


1-19-19 Elephant Nose from Ron’s Sensory Series

Filed under: FRESH WATER FISHES — Leave a comment
January 19, 2019

TAXONOMY
Kingdom: Animal
Phylum: Chordate
Class: Actinoptery
Order: Osteoglossiformes
Family: Mormyridae  (Elephantfishes)
Genus/species: Gnathonemus petersii

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS: The snout is its most unique feature. It is not actually a nose, but an extension of the mouth that is covered in electroreceptors that capture information from the weak electric field the fish generates. Receptors, which cover much of the body are used to navigate, avoid predators, and find food and mates in the turbid waters of its habitat.

Maximum length: 35.0 cm (13 in)

DISTRIBUTION/HABITAT: G. petersii are found in African fresh waters often murky.

DIET IN THE WILD: They feed mostly at night on worms and insects probably aided by electro-sensory inputs.

IUCN: Least Concern

Elephantnose fish have the largest brain of any fish their size with a brain size to body weight ratio higher than a human’s.
They have been used by water departments in the U.S. and Germany to test the quality of drinking water. When the quality of the water declines, the amount of electrical pulses released increases.

They are depicted in ancient Egyptian tombs dating from 2500 BC

References

California Academy of Sciences Steinhart Aquarium, Senses Cluster 2019

Ron’s flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/cas_docents/4734491953/in/album-72157675574079744/

Frontiers of Zoology https://frontiersinzoology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1742-9994-6-21

fishbase. www.fishbase.se/summary/Gnathonemus-petersii.html

www.deepdyve.com/lp/wiley/fish-monitors-and-the-role-of-e…

Ron’s WordPress Shortlink https://wp.me/p1DZ4b-1Zw

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11-25-13 Hillstream Loach from Ron’s Freshwater Series

Filed under: FRESH WATER FISHES — Leave a comment
November 25, 2013

TAXONOMY
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes)
Order: Cypriniformes ( carps, minnows, loaches and relatives)
Family: Balitoridae (hillstream river loaches)

Genus/species: Sewellia lineolata

Hillstream Loach IMG_0740

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS: Sewellia spp. are perhaps the most dominant of the ‘sucker belly’ group of loaches. Sides of body with 3-5 bold longitudinal stripes. Pectoral fin with bold submarginal stripe, otherwise with reticulated marks. Pelvic fin with 3 bold stripes. Females plumper than males. Males have raised areas like small “fences” on first few rays of pectoral fins, and when viewed from above are noticeably “squarer” in the area of the front leading edge of the pectoral fins. Maximum size: 2.5 inches

DISTRIBUTION/HABITAT: China, Viet Nam, Cambodia. Known from the Mekong basin. Found in shallow, fast-flowing rivers, highly oxygenated headwaters and tributaries with substrates of composed of bedrock, sand and gravel.

Hillstream Loach IMG_0739

DIET: Algae plus associated micro-organisms although insect larvae are probably taken on an opportunistic basis.

CONSERVATION: IUCN; V.ulnerable (VU)

REMARKS: Paired fins are orientated horizontally, head and body flattened and the last two pelvic-fin rays combine with a fleshy flap on the base of the fin to form a ‘pelvic valve’ forming a powerful sucking cup which allowing the fish to cling tightly to solid surfaces in rapid moving streams.

Waterplanet, senses cluster
11-25-13

flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/cas_docents/sets/72157625017923579/

WordPress Shortlink http://wp.me/p1DZ4b-1aa

Ref: fish base, EOL, Seriously Fish.

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