Classification / Names
Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa
Teleostei (teleosts) >
Gymnotiformes (Knifefishes) >
Sternopygidae (Glass knifefishes)
Etymology: Sternopygus: Greek, sternon = sternon, + Greek, pyge = tail (Ref. 45335); branco: Specific epithet from the Portuguese word meaning white, referring to the characteristic pale color of freshly netted live specimens; noun in apposition.
Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Ecology
Freshwater; benthopelagic. Tropical
South America: Amazon River, Brazil.
Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 49.2 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 52797)
Short description
Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics
Occurs in the main channels of major rivers or side branches; not known to occur in seasonally inundated floodplain forests or in forest steams of the Amazon's terra firme. In the Tefé region, this species is caught with beach seines and trawl nets at depth up to 10 meters in areas with weak currents, such as in large eddies, sheltered bays or "paranás" (side-branches of the main river channels that wind their way through the whitewater "várzea" floodplain); occurs syntopically with Sternopygus macrurus in whitewater habitats, but never with Sternopygus atrabes. This species does not occur where currents near the substrate exceeded 0.1 m/sec. At daytime it is usually encountered near submerged structures such as fallen trees and driftwood, and at night it moves into shallower water and away from structures. Specimens are collected on both sand and mud bottoms. It does not live in groups as indicated by electrode surveys and its sporadic occurrence in nets. Sexually mature males were never encountered, but gravid females were found along the edge of whitewater floodplain areas and in paraná channels during the rising water months of January and February. Feeds mainly on autochthonous insect larvae which it encounters on the substrate; the presence of small pieces of wood in many of the stomachs indicate that it forages among organic detritus on the river bed rather than within rafts of floating meadows or marginal macrophytes (Ref. 55493).
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae
Crampton, W.G.R., K.G. Hulen and J.S. Albert, 2004. Redescription of Sternopygus obtusirostris (Gymnotiformes: Sternopygidae) from the Amazon basin, with description of osteology, ecology and electric organ discharges. Ichthyol. Explor. Freshwat. 15(2):121-134. (Ref. 52797)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-1)
Threat to humans
Harmless
Human uses
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Estimates based on models
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref.
82804): PD
50 = 0.5020 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00832 (0.00256 - 0.02701), b=2.93 (2.67 - 3.19), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref.
93245).
Trophic level (Ref.
69278): 2.6 ±0.27 se; based on food items.
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref.
59153): Moderate vulnerability (39 of 100).
