Sternarchella orinoco Mago-Leccia, 1994

Family:  Apteronotidae (Ghost knifefishes), subfamily: Apteronotinae
Max. size:  22 cm TL (male/unsexed)
Environment:  benthopelagic; freshwater
Distribution:  South America: Orinoco River basin.
Diagnosis:  This species is distinguished from its congeners by the following: sub-terminal mouth (vs. terminal or superior in all other species except S. sima); small interorbital distance, 17-21% HL (vs. 19-25% HL in S. sima; shared with calhamazon, patriciae); long tail with caudal peduncle length more than head length (vs. 23-93% HL in all other species) (Ref. 126780).
Biology:  Found in deep river channels and most commonly collected in the Amacuro estuary and Llanos floodplains (Ref. 126780).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC); Date assessed: 05 October 2020 Ref. (130435)
Threat to humans:  harmless


Source and more info: www.fishbase.org. For personal, classroom, and other internal use only. Not for publication.