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Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Superclassis/Classis: Actinopterygii
Classis/Subclassis: Actinopteri
Subclassis/Infraclassis: Neopterygii
Infraclassis: Teleostei
Megacohors: Osteoglossocephalai
Supercohors: Clupeocephala
Cohors: Otomorpha
Subcohors: Ostariophysi
Sectio: Otophysa
Ordo: Gymnotiformes

Familia: Hypopomidae
Genera (6): AkawaioBrachyhypopomus – Hypopomus – MicrosternarchusProcerusternarchus – Racenisia

Name

Hypopomidae Mago-Leccia, 1978: 14

Type genus: Hypopomus Gill, 1864, by original designation.
References
Primary references

Mago-Leccia, F. 1978. Los peces de la familia Sternopygidae de Venezuela. Acta Científica Venezolana 29: 1–89.

Additional references

Albert, J.S. 2003. Hypopomidae (Bluntnose knifefishes). p. 494-496. In Reis, R.E., Kullander, S.O. & Ferraris Jr., C.J. (eds.) Checklist of the Freshwater Fishes of South and Central America. Porto Alegre: EDIPUCRS, Brasil.
Maldonado-Ocampo, J.A., López-Fernández, H., Taphorn, D.C., Bernard, C.R., Crampton, W.G.R. & Lovejoy, N.R. 2014. Akawaio penak, a new genus and species of Neotropical electric fish (Gymnotiformes, Hypopomidae) endemic to the upper Mazaruni River in the Guiana Shield. Zoologica Scripta 43(1): 24–33. DOI: 10.1111/zsc.12035 Reference page.
Cox Fernandes, C., Nogueira, A. & Alves-Gomes, J.A. 2014. Procerusternarchus pixuna, a new genus and species of electric knifefish (Gymnotiformes: Hypopomidae, Microsternarchini) from the Negro River, South America. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 163(1): 95–118. DOI: 10.1635/053.163.0107 Reference page.

Links

FishBase - Hypopomidae

References

Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2006. FishBase, version (02/2006). [1]

Vernacular names
čeština: Písečnicovití

The Hypopomidae are a family of fishes in the order Gymnotiformes known as the bluntnose knifefish. They may also be called grass or leaf knifefishes.[1] These electric fish are not often eaten, of little commercial importance, rarely kept as aquarium fish, and poorly studied; however, species in this family may constitute a significant fraction of the biomass in the areas they inhabit.[2]

These fish originate from fresh water in Panama and South America.[1] The Hypopomidae are confined to the humid neotropics, ranging the Río de la Plata of Argentina (35°S) to the Río Tuira of Panama (8°N). Hypopomids are known from the continental waters of all South American countries except Chile, and are most diverse in the Amazon Basin.[2]
Description

Teeth are absent on the oral jaws. Unlike the closely related Rhamphichthyidae, species of this family do not have a tubular snout, but a blunt, short one. Also, the nostrils are well separated. This family contains the smallest gymnotiforms, Microsternarchus brevis and Hypopygus hoedemani, which reach a maximum total length of 5.3 cm (2.1 in) and 5.9 cm (2.3 in) respectively.[3][4] Most other species in the family are also relatively small, less than 25 cm (10 in) long, although the largest, certain Brachyhypopomus, Hypopomus and Steatogenys, are up to 40–50 cm (16–20 in).[5] These fish have extremely small eyes — smaller in diameter than the distance between their nares. The long anal fin originates below or posterior to their pectoral fins, and no caudal fin is present.[2]

The electric organ discharge (EOD) of these fish are multiphasic (usually biphasic), and are produced in distinct pulses.[2] Certain predators, such as catfish and predatory knifefish, are able to detect these EODs and use this to their advantage in finding prey. However, species in the genus Brachyhypopomus restrict the low-frequency spectrum of their electric field close to their bodies, allowing higher frequencies to spread further; this makes it more difficult for predators to detect them.[6]
Taxonomy and genera

According to FishBase there are nine genera in this family,[2] but a molecular study in 2011 showed that one of these (marked with number sign# in list) should be subsumed into Hypopygus,[4] and a comprehensive molecular study from 2015 showed that two genera (marked with stars* in list) traditionally placed here belong in Rhamphichthyidae.[7] With these changes, six genera remain in the family Hypopomidae and this has been followed by recent authorities.[5][8][9]

Akawaio[10]
Brachyhypopomus
Hypopomus
Hypopygus*
Microsternarchus
Procerusternarchus[11]
Racenisia
Steatogenys*
Stegostenopos#

References
Wikispecies has information related to Hypopomidae.

Nelson, J.S. (2006). Fishes of the World. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 0-471-25031-7.
Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Family Hypopomidae". FishBase. November 2014 version.
Cox Fernandes, C.; Nogueira, A.; Williston, A.; Alves-Gomes, J.A. (2015). "A new species of electric knifefish from the rio Negro, Amazon basin (Gymnotiformes: Hypopomidae, Microsternarchini)". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 164 (1): 213–227. doi:10.1635/053.164.0113. S2CID 86768117.
de Santana, C.D.; W.G.R. Crampton (2011). "Phylogenetic interrelationships, taxonomy, and reductive evolution in the Neotropical electric fish genus Hypopygus (Teleostei, Ostariophysi, Gymnotiformes)". Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 163 (4): 1096–1156. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2011.00736.x.
van der Sleen, P.; J.S. Albert, eds. (2017). Field Guide to the Fishes of the Amazon, Orinoco, and Guianas. Princeton University Press. pp. 334–345. ISBN 978-0691170749.
Stoddard, P.K.; Markham, M.R. (2008). "Signal Cloaking by Electric Fish". BioScience. 58 (5): 415–425. doi:10.1641/b580508. PMC 2832175. PMID 20209064.
Tagliacollo, V.A.; Bernt, M.J.; Craig, J.M.; Oliviera, C.; Albert, J.S. (2015). "Model-based Total Evidence phylogeny of Neotropical electric knifefishes (Teleostei, Gymnotiformes)". Mol Phylogenet Evol. 95: 20–33. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2015.11.007. hdl:11449/168204. PMID 26616344.
Ferraris Jr, C.J.; C.D. de Santana; R.P. Vari (2017). "Checklist of Gymnotiformes (Osteichthyes: Ostariophysi) and catalogue of primary types". Neotrop. Ichthyol. 15 (1). doi:10.1590/1982-0224-20160067.
Eschmeyer, W.N.; R. Fricke; R. van der Laan (12 May 2018). "Catalog of Fishes". California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
Maldonado-Ocampo, J.A., López-Fernández, H., Taphorn, D.C., Bernard, C.R., Crampton, W.G.R. & Lovejoy, N.R. (2014): Akawaio penak, a new genus and species of Neotropical electric fish (Gymnotiformes, Hypopomidae) endemic to the upper Mazaruni River in the Guiana Shield. Zoologica Scripta, 43 (1): 24–33.
Cox Fernandes C.; Nogueira A.; Alves-Gomes J.A. (2014). "Procerusternarchus pixuna, a new genus and species of electric knifefish (Gymnotiformes: Hypopomidae, Microsternarchini) from the Negro River, South America". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 163: 95–118. doi:10.1635/053.163.0107. S2CID 84906671.

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