Classification / Names
Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa
Teleostei (teleosts) >
Gymnotiformes (Knifefishes) >
Hypopomidae (Bluntnose knifefishes)
Etymology: Brachyhypopomus: Greek, brachys, eia = short + Greek, hypo = under + Greek, poma, -atos = cover (Ref. 45335); walteri: Named for Walter Heiligenberg in honor of his discoveries in electric fish neurophysiology and behavior made at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography.
Institute of Oceanography.
Eponymy: Dr Walter F Heiligenberg (1938–1994) was an ethologist who was (1976–1994) Professor of Behavioural Physiology, Scripps Institute of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, having joined earlier (1973). [...] (Ref. 128868), visit book page.
Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Ecology
Freshwater; benthopelagic. Tropical
South America: Amazon basin.
Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 17.5 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 94132)
Short description
Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics
This species can be distinguished by having the following combination of characters: distinct patch of brown pigment below skin at base of orbit; body yellow and semi-translucent in living specimens; caudal filament long and fine, greater than 20% of LEA (length from the tip of the
snout to the posterior end of the anal-fin base) in intact specimens; electric discharge organ (EOD ) pulse duration very long (between 3.5 and 4 milliseconds at 25° C) with head-positive first phase of longer duration than second head-negative phase in both sexes (Ref. 94132).
Facultative air-breathing in the genus (Ref. 126274); Usually found in floating meadow habitats, composed mostly of the grass Paspalum repens, Poaceae. Occurs mainly in white water, but also in areas near the confluence of black water rivers with the Amazonas/Solimões ranging from low to medium conductivity. Syntopic with the species of Eigenmannia, Gymnotus, the apteronotid Parapteronotus hasemani and the electric eel Electrophorus electricus in the floating meadow habitats (Ref. 94132).
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae
Sullivan, J.P., J. Zuanon and C. Cox Fernandes, 2013. Two new species and new subgenus of toothed Brachyhypopomus electric knifefishes (Gymnotiformes, Hypopomidae) from the central Amazon and considerations pertaining to the evolution of a monophasic electric organ discharge. Zookeys 327:1-34. (Ref. 94132)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-1)
Threat to humans
Harmless
Human uses
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Estimates based on models
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref.
82804): PD
50 = 0.5000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00372 (0.00139 - 0.00994), b=3.06 (2.83 - 3.29), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref.
93245).
Trophic level (Ref.
69278): 3.1 ±0.4 se; based on size and trophs of closest relatives
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref.
59153): Low vulnerability (10 of 100).
