Electric catfish

Malapterurus electricus

The electric catfish ( Malapteruridae ) (Size: mala = soft, pteron = fin, oura = tail) live in the fresh waters of tropical Africa and the Nile. The animals also called jitter catfish can use electric shocks to stun their prey by electroplax.

Features

Electric catfish are twelve inches up to 1.22 meters long and up to 25 kg. Your body is elongated, cylindrical, and on the back and on the sides mostly of gray-brown color. You have no dorsal fin. Just before the tail fin shaft is a large adipose fin. The anal fin is far behind. The caudal fin is rounded. All fins are without spines. Electric catfish have three pairs of barbels, Nasalbarteln missing. The shoulder girdle is loosely connected to the skull. The swim bladder has forward facing excesses, two in the genus Malapterurus, three at Paradoxoglanis.

The electric element is derived from the shoulder muscles and surrounded most of the body length. Malapterurus electricus can generate current pulses with a voltage of 350 volts.

System

In the classical system, the jitter catfish are placed in the superfamily Siluroidea. After molecular biological studies, they include within the subordination of Siluroidei for "Big Africa " group.

Genera and species

  • Genus Malapterurus Agassiz, 1846 Malapterurus barbatus Norris, 2002
  • Malapterurus beninensis Murray, 1855
  • Malapterurus cavalliensis Roberts, 2000
  • Malapterurus electricus ( Gmelin, 1789)
  • Malapterurus leonensis Roberts, 2000
  • Malapterurus melanochir Norris, 2002
  • Malapterurus microstomus Poll & Gosse, 1969
  • Malapterurus minjiriya Sagua, 1987
  • Malapterurus monsembeensis Roberts, 2000
  • Malapterurus murrayi Norris, 2002
  • Malapterurus occidentalis Norris, 2002
  • Malapterurus oguensis Sauvage, 1879
  • Malapterurus pollination Norris, 2002
  • Malapterurus punctatus Norris, 2002
  • Malapterurus shirensis Roberts, 2000
  • Malapterurus stiassnyae Norris, 2002
  • Malapterurus tanganyikaensis Roberts, 2000
  • Malapterurus tanoensis Roberts, 2000
  • Malapterurus teugelsi Norris, 2002
  • Paradoxoglanis caudivittatus Norris, 2002
  • Paradoxoglanis Cryptus Norris, 2002
  • Paradoxoglanis parvus Norris, 2002
Taxonomic rank#All ranks Ostariophysi Pieter Bleeker Electric organ Fish fin Barbel (anatomy) Digital Object Identifier FishBase
302492
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