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Osteoglossiformes (Bony tongues) >
Mormyridae (Elephantfishes)
Etymology: Marcusenius: Becasue of J. Marcusen, author of "Zur Phauna des Schwarzen Meeres", 1867; ichthyologist.
Eponymy: Dr Johann Andreas Marcusen (1817–1894) was a Latvian of German descent who was a physician, ichthyologist and zoologist. [...] Northcote Whitridge Thomas (1868–1936) was a British Government anthropologist who conducted field research in Nigeria (1909–1913) and Sierra Leone (1914–1915) particularly among the Edo, Yoruba, Kukuruku, Esa and Igbo people. [...] (Ref. 128868), visit book page.
More on author: Boulenger.
Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Ecology
Freshwater; demersal. Tropical; 12°N - 6°N
Africa: Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia. Reported from Guinea-Bissau (ref. 13331).
Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 20.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 2915)
Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 22 - 27; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 37 - 43. The head, some parts of the body and the end of the dorsal and anal fins are darker in coloration. The whole body is generally brown. Dorsal fin origin behind anal fin origin, dorsal base/anal base rates = 0.5-0.6. LS/body depth ratio = 3.5-4.5. Long caudal peduncle, length/depth ratio = 2.9-5.5.
Affinities: close to M. mento and M. furcidens.
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae
Bigorne, R., 1990. Mormyridae. p. 122-184. In C. Lévêque, D. Paugy and G.G. Teugels (eds.) Faune des poissons d'eaux saumâtres d'Afrique de l'Ouest. tome 1. Faune Trop. 28. Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale, Tervuren, and ORSTOM, Paris. (Ref. 2915)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-1)
Threat to humans
Harmless
Human uses
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Internet sources
Estimates based on models
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref.
82804): PD
50 = 0.5000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01288 (0.00577 - 0.02877), b=2.88 (2.71 - 3.05), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this Genus-body shape (Ref.
93245).
Trophic level (Ref.
69278): 2.5 ±0.28 se; based on food items.
Resilience (Ref.
120179): High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref.
59153): Low vulnerability (14 of 100).