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Teleostei (teleosts) > Osteoglossiformes (Bony tongues) > Mormyridae (Elephantfishes)
Etymology: Marcusenius: Becasue of J. Marcusen, author of "Zur Phauna des Schwarzen Meeres", 1867; ichthyologist; altisambesi: Marcusenius altisambesi refers to the Upper Zambezi River, that is, the section of the Zambezi that ends at Victoria Falls; with 'sambesi' as a noun in apposition (Ref. 75962).

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

Freshwater; demersal. Tropical

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Africa: upper Zambezi River system in Caprivi strip, including the lower Kwando River, and western Okavango System in Angola, Botswana and Namibia (Ref. 75962, 94473).

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 19.5 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 75962)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 20 - 26; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 26 - 30. Diagnosis: Marcusenius altisambesi can be distinguished from its congeners by the following characters: scales around caudal peduncle 12-14; scales in linear series along the lateral line row 49-60; anal fin rays 26-30; dorsal fin rays 20-26; and body depth 20.1-32.8% of standard length (Ref. 75962). Electric organ discharge (EOD) with weak head-negative pre-potential in juveniles and females, sexual dimorphism in EOD waveform present in the 'summer' in the form of greatly increased EOD duration in sexually mature males of greater than about 12.5 cm standard length, but dimorphism not confirmed for specimens from Okavango (Ref. 75962).

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

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Kramer, B., P. Skelton, H. van der Bank and M. Wink, 2007. Allopatric differentiation in the Marcusenius macrolepidotus species complex in southern and eastern Africa: the resurrection of M. pongolensis and M. angolensis, and the description of two new species (Mormyridae, Teleostei). J. Nat. Hist. 41(9-12):647-708. (Ref. 75962)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 10 February 2010

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Harmless

Human uses

FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

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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=0.01380 (0.00615 - 0.03096), b=2.86 (2.69 - 3.03), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this Genus-body shape (Ref. 93245).

Trophic level (Ref. 69278): 3.1 ±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 (14 of 100).

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Marcusenius altisambesi Kramer, Skelton, van der Bank & Wink, 2007