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327:. It prefers muddy, slowly moving rivers and pools with cover such as submerged branches. The fish is a dark brown to black in colour, laterally compressed (averaging 23–25 cm (9.1–9.8 in)), with a rear dorsal fin and anal fin of the same length. Its caudal or tail fin is forked. It has two stripes on its lower pendicular. Its most striking feature, as its names suggest, is a trunk-like protrusion on the head. This is not actually a nose, but a sensitive extension of the mouth, that it uses for
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Elephantnose fish, though typically docile when kept in captivity, can be aggressive towards other species of fish, though some fare well in community aquarium environments. However, unless kept in an aquarium of over 400 L (88 imp gal; 110 US gal), elephantnose fish are
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around its body are sensitive enough to detect the different distortions of the electric field made by objects that conduct or resist electricity. The weak electric fields generated by this fish can be made audible by placing two electrodes in the fish tank, connected to an audio amplifier or a
535:. In the aquarium it is timid, preferring a heavily planted environment with subdued lighting, and thrives in a tank of more than 200 litres (44 imp gal; 53 US gal); favourable additions to the fish's aquarium environment are a pipe or hollow log, alongside soft, sandy
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347:, which it generates with specialized cells called electrocytes, which evolved from muscle cells, to find food, to navigate in dark or turbid waters, and to find a mate. Peters's elephantnose fish live to about 6–10 years.
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The species has never been bred in captivity, meaning that all aquarium available specimens are wild-caught. This requires the owner to maintain specific water parameters if the fish is to thrive.
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being the most common) and aquatic invertebrates such as mosquito larvae, but will accept frozen or flake food. Elephantnose fish are typically kept in water of medium
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The elephantnose fish has good low light vision. Its eyes use a combination of photonic crystals, parabolic mirrors and a clustered arrangement of rods and cones.
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aggressively territorial towards members of their own species. For this reason owners have been recommended not to keep more than one in captivity.
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Landmark use and development of navigation behaviour in the weakly electric fish
Gnathonemus petersii (Mormyridae; Teleostei)
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Peter Cain and Sapna Malwal, Landmark use and development of navigation behaviour in the weakly electric fish
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to find prey, and has the largest brain-to-body oxygen use ratio of all known vertebrates (around 0.6).
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628:"Brain and body oxygen requirements of Gnathonemus petersii, a fish with an exceptionally large brain"
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Von der Emde, G. (1999). "Active electrolocation of objects in weakly electric fish".
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Engelmann, Jacob; Nöbel, Sabine; Röver, Timo; Emde, Gerhard von der (2009-09-22).
870:(Mormyridae; Teleostei), Journal of Experimental Biology, 205, 3915-3923 (2002),
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Sci-toys.com instructions on making elephant nose electrical emissions audible
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of 6.8 to 7.2 and a temperature of between 26–28 °C (79–82 °F).
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30:"Elephant nose" redirects here. For the proboscis of an elephant, see
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343:, as is much of the rest of its body. The elephantnose uses a weak
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Peters's elephantnose fish is one of the most commonly available
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Peters's elephantnose fish is native to the rivers of
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363:which generates an electric field with its
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511:Learn how and when to remove this message
574:List of freshwater aquarium fish species
367:and then processes the returns from its
607:Integrated Taxonomic Information System
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291:is probably for the German naturalist
738:Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries
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449:adding citations to reliable sources
1125:IUCN Red List least concern species
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265:. Other names in English include
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713:Journal of Experimental Biology
631:Journal of Experimental Biology
542:The fish feeds on small worms (
436:needs additional citations for
42:Peters's elephantnose fish
1:
1145:Taxa named by Albert Günther
460:"Peters's elephantnose fish"
732:P.R, Møller (1 June 1996).
359:The elephantnose fish is a
255:) is an African freshwater
249:Peters's elephant-nose fish
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381:The elephant nose fish is
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371:to locate nearby objects.
228:Gnathonemus brevicaudatus
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93:Scientific classification
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271:long-nosed elephant fish
805:"Aquarium availability"
525:freshwater elephantfish
1140:Fish described in 1862
669:10.1186/1742-9994-6-21
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375:Further information:
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1135:Weakly electric fish
932:Gnathonemus petersii
902:Gnathonemus petersii
868:Gnathonemus petersii
845:Gnathonemus petersii
656:Frontiers in Zoology
601:Gnathonemus petersii
445:improve this article
361:weakly electric fish
323:basin and the upper
253:Gnathonemus petersii
202:Gnathonemus petersii
18:Gnathonemus petersii
855:. May 2006 version.
811:Aquarium industries
63:Conservation status
750:10.1007/BF00182347
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56:Elephantnose fish
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1084:Open Tree of Life
894:Taxon identifiers
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434:This section
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443:Please help
438:verification
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417:In captivity
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279:Ubangi River
277:, after the
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1019:iNaturalist
926:Wikispecies
783:Science.org
763:28 November
325:Chari River
319:basin, the
317:Niger River
303:Description
262:Gnathonemus
171:Gnathonemus
1130:Mormyridae
1119:Categories
946:Mormyridés
879:(BBC News)
832:References
788:1 December
544:bloodworms
471:newspapers
337:navigation
321:Ogun River
160:Mormyridae
816:3 January
758:1573-5184
721:Full text
678:1742-9994
662:(1): 21.
537:substrate
178:Species:
116:Kingdom:
110:Eukaryota
1037:10145447
993:FishBase
911:Wikidata
852:FishBase
696:19772622
639:Download
568:See also
548:hardness
529:aquarium
398:earbud.
288:petersii
219:Synonyms
156:Family:
130:Chordata
126:Phylum:
120:Animalia
106:Domain:
83:IUCN 3.1
1102:1015207
1011:2402409
917:Q945393
687:2760544
612:July 3,
550:with a
485:scholar
212:, 1862)
210:Günther
166:Genus:
146:Order:
136:Class:
81: (
1089:115478
1063:181553
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1024:101561
985:994811
959:140851
779:"AAAS"
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281:. The
273:, and
1097:WoRMS
1076:42645
1032:IRMNG
972:8YX9Z
877:Photo
585:Notes
492:JSTOR
478:books
285:name
283:Latin
1071:NCBI
1058:IUCN
1045:ITIS
1006:GBIF
998:2085
954:BOLD
818:2022
790:2021
765:2023
754:ISSN
692:PMID
674:ISSN
614:2007
464:news
311:and
309:West
980:EoL
967:CoL
941:ADW
746:doi
717:202
682:PMC
664:doi
635:199
527:in
447:by
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