Apteronotus albifrons
(Linnaeus, 1766) · speciesAt a glance
Sources11 archives
Databases and archives Apteronotus albifrons's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation16 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility442 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI2 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics16 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinegenome & karyotype↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
Catalogue of LifeCOLtaxonomy↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
The black ghost knifefish (Apteronotus albifrons) is a tropical fish belonging to the ghost knifefish family (Apteronotidae). They originate in freshwater habitats in South America where they range from Venezuela to the Paraguay–Paraná River, including the Amazon Basin. They are popular in aquaria. The fish is all black except for two white rings on its tail, and a white blaze on its nose, which can occasionally extend into a stripe down its back. It moves mainly by undulating a long fin on its underside. It will grow to a maximum length of 50 cm. Black ghost knifefish are nocturnal. They are a weakly electric fish which use an electric organ and receptors distributed over the length of their body in order to locate insect larvae.Nelson M. E. & MacIver M. A. (1999). "Prey capture in the weakly electric fish Apteronotus albifrons: sensory acquisition strategies and electrosensory consequences". J. Exp. Biol. 202: 1195–1203, pdf Black ghost knifefish with its underside pointing towards the camera The black ghost knifefish natively lives in fast moving, sandy bottom creeks in a tropical climate. South American natives believe that the ghosts of the departed take up residence in these fish,Axelrod H. R. (1996). Exotic Tropical Fishes. T.F.H. Publications. hence the name.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology1
Habitat & environment2
Uses & economy1
Other traits1
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Apteronotus albifrons has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
Besides the big genome in the nucleus, cells carry a small, circular loop of DNA inside the cell's energy factories — the mitochondria. It is inherited almost only from the mother and is a leftover from ancient bacteria that moved into the cell. The mitochondrial markers above (ND*, COX, CYTB…) are read from exactly this loop. Outer ring = one strand, inner ring = the other.
The complete instruction manual Apteronotus albifrons carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers
Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
Record type442 records
Origin
Range
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions14 of 40 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| Washington, US | 57 |
| Instituto de Biodiversidad de Venezuela - INBIOlocation not on record | 38 |
| UEMlocation not on record | 31 |
| Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA)location not on record | 27 |
| Montgomery, US | 25 |
| Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de Sao Paulolocation not on record | 22 |
| Toronto, CA | 18 |
| Los Angeles, US | 17 |
| Geneva, CH | 12 |
| Champaign, US | 11 |
| PUC-RSlocation not on record | 10 |
| Chicago, US | 9 |
| University of Nebraskalocation not on record | 9 |
| Universidad de la Amazonia (UniAmazonia)location not on record | 9 |
| Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt (IAvH)location not on record | 9 |
| Stockholm, SE | 8 |
| MPSlocation not on record | 8 |
| Cambridge, US | 7 |
| Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (PUJ)location not on record | 7 |
| CASlocation not on record | 7 |
| Londrina, BR | 7 |
| Museu Nacional/Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeirolocation not on record | 6 |
| Universidad de los Llanos (UniLlanos)location not on record | 6 |
| Universidad del Tolima (UT)location not on record | 6 |
| UFMSlocation not on record | 5 |
| Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldilocation not on record | 5 |
| Universidad de La Salle (La Salle)location not on record | 4 |
| Texas Memorial Museum, Texas Natural History Collectionlocation not on record | 3 |
| Museo de Historia Natural “Gustavo Orcés V"location not on record | 3 |
| Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record | 3 |
| FishBaselocation not on record | 2 |
| Ann Arbor, US | 2 |
| Paris, FR | 2 |
| USP-RPlocation not on record | 2 |
| 2 | |
| UNICAMPlocation not on record | 2 |
| CIRA-UNANlocation not on record | 1 |
| SNSB-Zoologische Staatssammlung Münchenlocation not on record | 1 |
| South Kensington, GB | 1 |
| UNEMATlocation not on record | 1 |
Where the DNA of Apteronotus albifrons was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.