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Petrocephalus sauvagii (Boulenger, 1887)

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drawing shows typical species in Mormyridae.

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);  sauvagii: Named in honour of Dr. H.E. Sauvage (Ref. 42539).
More on author: Boulenger.

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

Freshwater; demersal. Tropical

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

Africa: Congo River basin and Niger Delta (Ref. 2915, 85331). Possibly present in the coastal Nigerian fringe (Ref. 2915). Reports from coastal basins of Cameroon (Ref. 51193) or the Chiloango (Ref. 88943) questionable as the species is reported to be absent from the Lower Guinea Ichthyological Province (Ref. 85331).

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 17.5 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 42539)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 26 - 28; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 34 - 36. Petrocephalus sauvagii is distinguished from all other Petrocephalus species in Central Africa by the following combination of characteristics: very wide mouth (mouthwidth 2,7 to 3,7 in head length) associated with a characteristic head shape when viewed from above, anal fin with at least 32 branched rays, dorsal fin with at least 25 branched rays, mouth subterminal, ration between the head length and the mouth position as large as 7,4 (Ref. 85331). It has 17-30 teeth in upper jaw, and 29-35 teeth in lower jaw (Ref. 2915, 85331). Pigmentation pattern with two melanin markings, sometimes of weak intensity or even scarcely visible: (1) an irregularly round black mark below the anterior base (first to fourth rays) of the dorsal fin; and (2) an ovoid blackish mark, often irregularly shaped, at the base of the caudal fin, extending onto the upper and lower fleshy lobes of the fin (Ref. 85331).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Affinities: Same color as P. soudanensis, but distinguished by mouth position, number of teeth and eye size; same morphology as P. bane and P. ansorgii (Ref. 2915).

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

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Lévêque, C.D. Paugy and G.G. Teugels (eds.), 1990. Faune des poissons d'eaux douces et saumâtres d'Afrique de l'Ouest. Tome 1. Coll. Faune Tropicale N° 28. Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale, Tervuren, Belgique et O.R.S.T.O.M., Paris, France. 384 p. (Ref. 2703)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 04 September 2019

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

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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=0.01585 (0.00697 - 0.03603), b=2.85 (2.67 - 3.03), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this Genus-body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.3   ±0.4 se; based on size and trophs of closest relatives
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Low vulnerability (10 of 100).