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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)
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.
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.
Like the other gymnotiforms, gymnotids have classic knifefish bodies. The body is long and eel-like, the dorsal fin and pelvic fins are absent, and the anal fin is extremely long and used for movement.
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]
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 .
The scales of the knifefish are extremely small, giving it a smooth appearance broken only by its fairly prominent lateral line. Apart from its eyes, the lateral line is the knifefish's most important sensory apparatus. The African brown knifefish is nocturnal and uses the nerve-filled pits running down its body to navigate lightless waters. In ...