''Steatogenys elegans'', the barred knifefish, is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to 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 ...

Rhamphichthyidae Sand knifefish are freshwater electric fish of the family Rhamphichthyidae, from freshwater habitats in South America. Just like most part of the members of the Gymnotiformes group, they also have elongated and compressed bodies and electric org ...

, the sand knifefishes. This fish is found 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 South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. It is the type species of its genus. It is an

electric fish An electric fish is any fish that can Bioelectrogenesis, generate electric fields, whether to sense things around them, for defence, or to stun prey. Most fish able to produce shocks are also electroreceptive, meaning that they can sense electric ...

found in a wide range of freshwater habitats in the

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 ...

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 ...

and Essequibo river basins. It reaches almost in total length.

References

Rhamphichthyidae Weakly electric fish Fish of Bolivia Knifefish of Brazil Freshwater fish of Colombia Freshwater fish of Ecuador Fish of Guyana Freshwater fish of Peru Freshwater fish of Venezuela Fish of the Amazon basin Fish described in 1880 Taxa named by Franz Steindachner {{gymnotiformes-stub