Mormyrus

Mormyrus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Osteoglossiformes
Family: Mormyridae
Genus: Mormyrus
Linnaeus, 1758
Species

See text

Synonyms
  • Mormyrodes Gill 1862
  • Mormyrus (Scrophicephalus) Swainson 1838
  • Scrophicephalus (Swainson 1838)
  • Solenomormyrus Bleeker 1874

Mormyrus is a genus of ray-finned fish in the family Mormyridae. They are weakly electric, enabling them to navigate, to find their prey, and to communicate with other electric fish.[1]

Species

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Mormyrus caballus (above), Mormyrus rume (below)
Mormyrus hasselquistii (above), Mormyrus niloticus (below)

There are currently 22 recognized species in this genus:[2][3]

In culture

[edit]
This section is an excerpt from Mormyridae § In culture.[edit]
Bronze figurine of Oxyrhynchus fish, Late Period-Ptolemaic Egypt
The Medjed was a sacred fish in Ancient Egypt. At the city of Per-Medjed, better known as Oxyrhynchus, whose name means "sharp-nosed" after the fish, archaeologists have found fishes depicted as bronze figurines, mural paintings, or wooden coffins in the shape of fishes with downturned snouts, with horned sun-disc crowns like those of the goddess Hathor. The depictions have been described as resembling members of the genus Mormyrus.[4]

References

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  1. ^ Bullock, Theodore H.; Bodznick, D. A.; Northcutt, R. G. (1983). "The phylogenetic distribution of electroreception: Evidence for convergent evolution of a primitive vertebrate sense modality" (PDF). Brain Research Reviews. 6 (1): 25–46. doi:10.1016/0165-0173(83)90003-6. hdl:2027.42/25137. PMID 6616267. S2CID 15603518.
  2. ^ "Mormyridae" (PDF). Deeplyfish- fishes of the world. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  3. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Mormyrus". FishBase. June 2017 version.
  4. ^ Van Neer, Wim; Gonzalez, Jérôme (2019). "A Late Period fish deposit at Oxyrhynchus (el-Bahnasa, Egypt)". In Peters, Joris; McGlynn, George; Goebel, Veronika (eds.). Documenta Archaeobiologiae Animals: Cultural Identifiers In Ancient Societies? (PDF). Rahden, Westfalia, Germany: Verlag Marie Leidorf. ISBN 978-3-89646-674-7.


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