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The banded knifefish (Gymnotus carapo) is a species of gymniform knifefish native to a wide range of freshwater habitats in South America. [1] It is the most widespread species of Gymnotus, [1] but it has frequently been confused with several relatives, including some found outside its range like the Central America G. maculosus.
They are sometimes referred to by the English name banded knifefish, [1] although this typically is reserved for the most widespread species, G. carapo. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] Overall Gymnotus is the most widespread genus in the order Gymnotiformes .
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.
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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)
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 species has been reclassified several times. When originally described by Carl Linnaeus in 1766, he used the name Gymnotus electricus, placing it in the same genus as Gymnotus carapo (banded knifefish) which he had described several years earlier.
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