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Petrocephalus catostoma (Günther, 1866)

Churchill
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Petrocephalus catostoma
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Osteoglossiformes (Bony tongues) > Mormyridae (Elephantfishes)
Etymology: Petrocephalus: Latin, petra = stone + Greek, kephale = head (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Günther.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Freshwater; demersal; potamodromous (Ref. 51243). Tropical; 23°C - 26°C (Ref. 2060); 3°S - 27°S

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

East Africa: Rovuma River system including Niassa Reserve, and western confluences to Lake Malawi (Ref. 91771). Following a recent revision of the Petrocephalus catostoma complex (Ref. 91771), unambiquous evidence for the presence of this species in the Bangweulu-Mweru area (and consequently the Congo basin) is still lacking (Ref. 91772).

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?, range 4 - ? cm
Max length : 15.0 cm FL male/unsexed; (Ref. 5214)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 18 - 22; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 25 - 28.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Occurs in shallow and muddy waters, sheltered bays, in lagoons, and swampy areas; prefers quiet parts of rivers where there is abundant vegetation (Ref. 13337). Forms shoals (Ref. 13337) within quiet reaches of rivers and floodplains, and with other species with identical electric organ discharge (EOD) waveforms (Ref. 10460). Feeds on insects, found on river bed or in marginal vegetation (Ref. 12526), on insect larvae and other invertebrates at night (Ref. 5595). Known to undergo upriver migration (Ref. 13337, 10608) which may well be correlated with breeding (Ref. 13337). Breeds during the rainy season, possibly moving upstream to suitable sites (Ref. 10608). An unconfirmed report claims the males are territorial and build a nest (Ref. 7248). Caught in nets for food (5214). Oviparous (Ref. 205).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturities | Reproduction | Spawnings | Egg(s) | Fecundities | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Kramer, B., R. Bills, P. Skelton and M. Wink, 2012. A critical revision of the churchill snoutfish, genus Petrocephalus Marcusen, 1854 (Actinopterygii: Teleostei: Mormyridae), from southern and eastern Africa, with the recognition of Petrocephalus tanensis, and the description of five new species. Journal of Natural History 46(35-36):2179-2258. (Ref. 91771)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 13 June 2018

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: subsistence fisheries; aquarium: commercial
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items
Diet compositions
Food consumptions
Food rations
Predators
Ecology
Ecology
Population dynamics
Growths
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversions
Recruitments
Abundances
Life cycle
Reproduction
Maturities
Fecundities
Spawnings
Spawning aggregations
Egg(s)
Egg developments
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Distribution
Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
BRUVS - Videos
Anatomy
Gill areas
Brains
Otoliths
Physiology
Body compositions
Nutrients
Oxygen consumptions
Swimming type
Swimming speeds
Visual pigment(s)
Fish sounds
Diseases / Parasites
Toxicities (LC50s)
Genetics
Genetics
Electrophoreses
Heritabilities
Human related
Aquaculture systems
Aquaculture profiles
Strains
Ciguatera cases
Stamps, coins, misc.
Outreach
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References
References

Tools

Special reports

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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01380 (0.00761 - 0.02504), b=2.81 (2.66 - 2.96), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & Genus-body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.4   ±0.38 se; based on food items.
Generation time: 1.4 ( na - na) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 2 growth studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (Fec = 116).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Low vulnerability (17 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Unknown.