Peters's elephantnose fish

"Elephant nose" redirects here. For the proboscis of an elephant, see Elephant § Trunk.

Peters's elephantnose fish
Elephantnose fish
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Osteoglossiformes
Family: Mormyridae
Genus: Gnathonemus
Species:
G. petersii
Binomial name
Gnathonemus petersii
(Günther, 1862)
Synonyms[1]
  • Gnathonemus brevicaudatus Pellegrin, 1919
  • Mormyrus petersii Günther, 1862

Peters's elephant-nose fish (Gnathonemus petersii) is an African freshwater elephantfish in the genus Gnathonemus. Other names in English include elephantnose fish, long-nosed elephant fish, and Ubangi mormyrid, after the Ubangi River. The Latin name petersii is probably for the German naturalist Wilhelm Peters. The fish uses electrolocation to find prey, and has the largest brain-to-body oxygen use ratio of all known vertebrates (around 0.6).[2]

  1. ^ "Gnathonemus petersii". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved July 3, 2007.
  2. ^ Nilsson G (1996) "Brain and body oxygen requirements of Gnathonemus petersii, a fish with an exceptionally large brain" Journal of Experimental Biology, 199(3): 603–607. Download