Black ghost knifefish
species of fish
The black ghost knifefish (Apteronotus albifrons) is a tropical ornamental fish belonging to the ghost knifefish family (Apteronotidae). They originate in freshwater habitats in South America where they range from Venezuela to the Paraguay–Paraná River, including the Amazon Basin. They are popular in aquaria. The fish is all black except for two white rings on its tail, and a white blaze on its nose, which can occasionally extend into a stripe down its back. It moves mainly by undulating a long fin on its underside. It will grow to a length of 45–50 centimetres (18–20 in).
Black ghost knifefish are nocturnal. They are a weakly electric fish which use an electric organ and receptors distributed over the length of their body in order to locate prey, including insect larvae.
Description
The black ghost knifefish has an elongate compressed body with a finless back, short snout, large mouth and a long fin along its abdomen. This fin is a long fused ventral and anal fin as these fish typically have an absent caudal fin.
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This entry incorporates text from “Black ghost knifefish” 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.