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Despite the name, the electric eel is a type of knifefish. The Gymnotiformes / dʒ ɪ m ˈ n ɒ t ɪ f ɔːr m iː z / are an order of teleost bony fishes commonly known as Neotropical knifefish or South American knifefish. They have long bodies and swim using undulations of their elongated anal fin.
Knifefish may refer to several knife-shaped fishes: The Neotropical or weakly electric knifefishes, order Gymnotiformes, containing five families: Family Gymnotidae (banded knifefishes and the electric eel) Family Rhamphichthyidae (sand knifefishes) Family Hypopomidae (bluntnose knifefishes) Family Sternopygidae (glass and rat-tail knifefishes)
With the denotation of "knifefish", the notopterids should not be confused with Gymnotiformes, the electric knifefishes from South and Central America. Although their manner of swimming is similar and they are superficially similar in appearance, the two groups are not closely related.
Common names of fish can refer to a single species; to an entire group of species, such as a genus or family; or to multiple unrelated species or groups. Ambiguous common names are accompanied by their possible meanings. Scientific names for individual species and higher taxa are included in parentheses.
The African knifefish, Gymnarchus niloticus – also called the aba aba [a] – is an electric fish, living at the bottoms of rivers and lakes. It is the only species in the genus Gymnarchus and the family Gymnarchidae , within the order Osteoglossiformes .
Glass knifefishes are fishes in the family Sternopygidae in the order Gymnotiformes.Species are also known as rattail knifefishes. [1]These fishes inhabit freshwater streams and rivers in Panama and South America. [1]
Sand knifefish are freshwater electric fish of the family Rhamphichthyidae, from freshwater habitats in South America. [1] Just like most part of the members of the Gymnotiformes group, they also have elongated and compressed bodies and electric organs. The long anal fin actually extends from before the pectoral fins to the tip of the tail.
The clown featherback (Chitala ornata), also known as the clown knifefish and spotted knifefish, is a nocturnal species of tropical fish with a long, knife-like body. This knifefish is native to freshwater habitats in Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Laos, Macau, Thailand, and Vietnam, [2] but it has also been introduced to regions outside its native range. [1]