Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) > Osteoglossiformes (Bony tongues) > Mormyridae (Elephantfishes)
Etymology: Petrocephalus: Latin, petra = stone + Greek, kephale = head (Ref. 45335).

Environment / Climate / Range Ecology

Freshwater; demersal; potamodromous (Ref. 51243). Tropical; 23°C - 26°C (Ref. 2060), preferred ?

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

Africa: Chad, Niger, Volta, Gambia and Senegal basins, including the Nile. Also known from Côte d'Ivoire (Ref. 272).

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m 6.8 range ? - ? cm
Max length : 11.2 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 57961); max. published weight: 10.00 g (Ref. 3799); max. reported age: 3 years (Ref. 2749)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 21-28; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 27 - 35. body depth 2.9-3.7 x SL, anal base 3.2-4.7 x SL, caudal peduncle height 13.3-19.3 x SL. Eye diameter 2.7-4.6 x head length. Uniformly brilliant silver color, sometimes grayish or brownish.

Affinities: P. pellegrini. Generates electric organ discharge (EOD) of short duration that seems to correlate with aggregative behavior of the species (Ref. 14060; 10601). EOD temporal pattern cues have been shown to play a role in species recognition for P. bovei (Ref. 10600). A ratio measure between olfactory and visual receptor areas suggests that this species relies more on visual than olfactory information (Ref. 10839). A fractional spawner (Ref. 10605; 10606).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Builds a nest for the eggs. No guarding or tending has been observed, though.

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Gosse, J.-P., 1984. Mormyridae. p. 63-122. In J. Daget, J.-P. Gosse and D.F.E. Thys van den Audenaerde (eds.) Check-list of the freshwater fishes of Africa (CLOFFA). ORSTOM, Paris and MRAC, Tervuren. Vol. 1. (Ref. 3203)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 115185)

Not Evaluated

CITES (Ref. 94142)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Harmless

Human uses

Fisheries: of no interest

FAO(Publication : search) | FisheriesWiki | Sea Around Us

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Internet sources

Petrocephalus bovei (Valenciennes, 1847)