Eastern bottlenose mormyrid (Mormyrus longirostris)

Scientific name: Mormyrus longirostris Peters, 1852

Eastern bottlenose mormyrid (Mormyrus longirostris)
Photo: https://www.aqualog.de/en/lexikon/mormyrus-longirostris-2/

The Eastern bottlenose mormyrid (Mormyrus longirostris) is a freshwater fish of the family Mormyridae.

Biology

Found in caves and muddy areas, also hides among weeds. Favours quiet deep water with a soft muddy bottom. Forms shoals. Feeds on weeds and insects but may also feed on small fishes and fish eggs, blood worms, small crustaceans and mollusks. Active mainly at night; breeds during the rainy season, moving upstream in rivers after flood spates have receded. Migrations appears to occur at irregular interval as this fish is not a powerful swimmer and would not be able to cope with very high water current. Females carry 10,000-70,000 eggs; can give a mild shock when caught.

Source: FishBase, licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.

Species facts

Scientific name
Mormyrus longirostris
Family
Mormyridae (Elephantfishes)
Order
Osteoglossiformes (Bony tongues)
Class
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned fishes)
Maximum length
75.0
Environment
Freshwater; demersal; potamodromous
Climate
Tropical
Distribution
Africa: lower and middle Zambezi, Buzi, Pungwe, lower Sabi and Ludi Rivers, Luapula-Moero-Bangwelo. Also known from the Ruvuma and Rufiji rivers in Tanzania, lakes Malawi, Tanganyika and Rukwa, and other eastward flowing rivers in Tanzania.
Conservation status (IUCN)
Least Concern (LC)
Threat to humans
Other
Uses
Fisheries: commercial; gamefish: yes; aquarium: commercial
Resilience
Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.22)

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Sources

Taxonomy, distribution and biology data: FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds.), licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.

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