''Adontosternarchus'' is a genus of

ghost knifefish The ghost knifefishes consist of the family Apteronotidae, which are ray-finned fishes in the order Gymnotiformes. These fish are native to Panama and South America. They inhabit a wide range of freshwater habitats, but more than half the specie ...

es found in

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

and

Orinoco The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers approximately 1 million km2, with 65% of it in Venezuela and 35% in Colombia. It is the List of rivers by discharge, f ...

river basins in

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

South America. They have blunt snouts, a dark-spotted or -mottled pattern on a pale background (however, spotting/mottling can be so dense that individuals appear almost all dark) and reach up to in total length. They feed on

zooplankton Zooplankton are the heterotrophic component of the planktonic community (the " zoo-" prefix comes from ), having to consume other organisms to thrive. Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents. Consequent ...

and can be found quite deep, with ''A. devenanzii'' recorded down to .

Species

There are currently six recognized species in this genus: * '' Adontosternarchus balaenops'' (

Cope A cope ( ("rain coat") or ("cape")) is a liturgical long mantle or cloak, open at the front and fastened at the breast with a band or clasp. It may be of any liturgical colour. A cope may be worn by any rank of the Catholic or Anglican clerg ...

, 1878) * '' Adontosternarchus clarkae'' Mago-Leccia, Lundberg & Baskin, 1985 * '' Adontosternarchus devenanzii'' Mago-Leccia, Lundberg & Baskin, 1985 * '' Adontosternarchus duartei'' de Santana &

Vari Vari () is a southern suburb of Athens and former municipality in East Attica, Greece along the Athens coast. The ancient Athenian deme of Anagyrous was situated here. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Vari-Vo ...

, 2012de Santana, C.D. & Vari, R.P. (2012): New Species of ''Adontosternarchus'' (Gymnotiformes, Apteronotidae) from the Rio Purus Basin, Brazil. ''Copeia, 2012 (3): 535-540.'' * '' Adontosternarchus nebulosus'' Lundberg & Cox Fernandes, 2007 * '' Adontosternarchus sachsi'' ( W. K. H. Peters, 1877)

References

Apteronotidae Fish of South America Freshwater fish genera Taxa named by Max Mapes Ellis {{Gymnotiformes-stub