Adontosternarchus Explained

Adontosternarchus is a genus of ghost knifefishes found in Amazon and Orinoco river basins in tropical South America. They have blunt snouts, a dark-spotted or -mottled pattern on a pale background (however, spotting/mottling can be so dense that individuals appear almost all dark) and reach up to NaNcm (-2,147,483,648inches) in total length.^[1] They feed on zooplankton and can be found quite deep, with A. devenanzii recorded down to 84m (276feet).^[1]

Species

There are currently six recognized species in this genus:

• Adontosternarchus balaenops (Cope, 1878)
• Adontosternarchus clarkae Mago-Leccia, Lundberg & Baskin, 1985
• Adontosternarchus devenanzii Mago-Leccia, Lundberg & Baskin, 1985
• Adontosternarchus duartei de Santana & Vari, 2012^[2]
• Adontosternarchus nebulosus Lundberg & Cox Fernandes, 2007
• Adontosternarchus sachsi (W. K. H. Peters, 1877)

Notes and References

1. Book: van der Sleen, P. . J.S. Albert . 2017 . Field Guide to the Fishes of the Amazon, Orinoco, and Guianas . Princeton University Press . 325 . 978-0691170749 .
2. de Santana, C.D. & Vari, R.P. (2012): New Species of Adontosternarchus (Gymnotiformes, Apteronotidae) from the Rio Purus Basin, Brazil. Copeia, 2012 (3): 535-540.