''Eigenmannia'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Sternopygidae (glass knifefishes) native to tropical and

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones immediately to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Ge ...

South America (south to the

Río de la Plata Basin The Río de la Plata basin (, ), more often called the River Plate basin in scholarly writings, sometimes called the Platine basin or Platine region, is the Hydrography, hydrographical area in South America that drains to the Río de la Plata. I ...

), and

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

.Peixoto, L.A.W., Dutra, G.M. & Wosiacki, W.B. (2015). The Electric Glass Knifefishes of the ''Eigenmannia trilineata'' species-group (Gymnotiformes: Sternopygidae): monophyly and description of seven new species. ''Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 175 (2): 384–414.'' They are typically found in slow-flowing streams, along the edge of large rivers, in deep river channels and in floodplains, and the genus also includes ''E. vicentespelaea'', the only cave-adapted knifefish. ''Eigenmannia'' are often found near submerged roots, aquatic plants and floating meadows. Depending on the exact species, they have a maximum total length of . They are

nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...

, and feed on small invertebrates such as aquatic insect larvae and

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 ...

ic crustaceans.

Species

These are the currently recognized species in this genus:

References

{{Authority control Freshwater fish genera Eigenmanniinae Taxa named by David Starr Jordan Taxa named by Barton Warren Evermann