Gnathonemus petersii

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Population

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

Conservation Actions

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	ACTINOPTERYGII	OSTEOGLOSSIFORMES	MORMYRIDAE

Scientific Name:

Gnathonemus petersii

Species Authority:

(Günther, 1862)

Common Name/s:

English

–

Elephant Fish, Elephant Nose, Elephantnose Fish, Long-nosed Elephant Fish, Peter's Elephantnose

Synonym/s:

Gnathonemus brevicaudatus Pellegrin, 1919

Gnathonemus histrio Fowler, 1936

Gnathonemus petersi (Günther, 1862)

Mormyrus petersii Günther, 1862

Taxonomic Notes:

This species is probably heterospecific and further study is required.

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:	Least Concern ver 3.1
Year Published:	2010
Assessor/s:	Awaïss, A., Lalèyè, P. & Moelants, T.
Reviewer/s:	Snoeks, J., Tweddle, D., Getahun, A., Lalèyè, P., Paugy, D., Zaiss, R., Fishar, M.R.A & Brooks, E.
Contributor/s:
Justification: This species has a wide distribution, with no known major widespread threats. It is therefore listed as Least Concern. It has also been assessed regionally as Least Concern for central and western Africa.

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	This species is known from Nigeria to Central African Republic, and south to Angola and Zambia Central Africa: Gnathonemus petersii is known from throughout the Congo River basin. In the Lower Guinea region, it is known from the Cross Mungo, Wouri, Lokoundjé, and Lower Sanaga Rivers. Western Africa: It is found in the Lower Niger, Ogun, Cross basin and This species is known from upper Chari basin.
Countries:	Native: Angola (Angola, Angola); Cameroon; Central African Republic; Congo; Congo, The Democratic Republic of the; Nigeria; Zambia
Range Map:	Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population:	No information available.
Population Trend:	Unknown

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	Gnathonemus petersii is a demersal species that occurs close to the bottom where it probes for food with the long snout. Territorial and usually aggressive towards members of its own species. This behaviour has been shown to involve electric organ discharge (EOD) activity (Møller 1995). Feeds mostly at night on worms and insects (Mills and Vevers 1989), probably aided by electro-sensory inputs (Møller 1995). The electroreceptors are distributed over the entire head, the dorsal and ventral regions of the body, but absent from the side and the caudal peduncle where the electric organ is located (Møller 1995). Sex-related EOD characteristics in this species has been demonstrated in the laboratory with freshly imported samples during the breeding season; such EOD dimorphism changed with time in captivity (Landsman 1993, 1995). Lead nitrate in water significantly increased EOD rate and selectively altered the EOD waveform of this species (Prabhakar and Landsman 1994). Dubbed a `hearing specialist' having auditory abilities in the range of 100-2500 Hz, with `best frequencies' between 300 and 600 Hz (McCormick and Popper 1984).
Systems:	Freshwater

Habitat and Ecology:

Gnathonemus petersii is a demersal species that occurs close to the bottom where it probes for food with the long snout. Territorial and usually aggressive towards members of its own species. This behaviour has been shown to involve electric organ discharge (EOD) activity (Møller 1995). Feeds mostly at night on worms and insects (Mills and Vevers 1989), probably aided by electro-sensory inputs (Møller 1995). The electroreceptors are distributed over the entire head, the dorsal and ventral regions of the body, but absent from the side and the caudal peduncle where the electric organ is located (Møller 1995). Sex-related EOD characteristics in this species has been demonstrated in the laboratory with freshly imported samples during the breeding season; such EOD dimorphism changed with time in captivity (Landsman 1993, 1995). Lead nitrate in water significantly increased EOD rate and selectively altered the EOD waveform of this species (Prabhakar and Landsman 1994). Dubbed a `hearing specialist' having auditory abilities in the range of 100-2500 Hz, with `best frequencies' between 300 and 600 Hz (McCormick and Popper 1984).

Systems:

Freshwater

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	None known.

Major Threat(s):

None known.

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:	None known. The taxonomy needs revision.

Conservation Actions:

None known. The taxonomy needs revision.

Citation:	Awaïss, A., Lalèyè, P. & Moelants, T. 2010. Gnathonemus petersii. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 19 June 2013.
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