Apteronotus magdalenensis
species of fish
Apteronotus magdalenensis is a species of ghost knifefish (Apteronotidae) endemic to Colombia. The species was initially placed in the newly described genus Ubidia, of which it was the type species, but was subsequently moved to Apteronotus.
Though often reported to be 1.3 m (4 ft 3 in) long (specifically, 1,294 mm (50.9 in) long), this appears to stem from a misidentification of Sternopygus aequilabiatus; A. magdalenensis is actually much smaller, commonly around 30 cm (12 in) in total length, and the largest male specimens being 449 mm (17.7 in) long.
The species is only found in the Rio Magdalena-Cauca basin, inhabiting river stretches with sandy to rocky substrate and turbidity from heavy sediment load. Like all gymnotiformes, this species is an electric fish; they produce a continuous-wave electric organ discharge (EOD) that are used to detect their prey, being the larvae of aquatic insects.
The public source identifies “Apteronotus magdalenensis” as species of fish. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Apteronotus, magdalenensis and species.
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Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q8202831. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Apteronotus magdalenensis” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.