Gasteropelecus sternicla
(Linnaeus, 1758) · speciesAt a glance
Sources9 archives
Databases and archives Gasteropelecus sternicla's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation8 languages↗
Animal Diversity WebUniv. of Michigan MZspecies account↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility863 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI11 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics11 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
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.
Cuyuni fish (Gasteropelecus sternicula) of Guyana The common hatchetfish or river hatchetfish (Gasteropelecus sternicla) is a tropical fish belonging to the freshwater hatchetfish family (Gasteropelecidae). Originating in South America in the Peruvian and middle Amazon, the Guianas and Venezuela, it grows to about 2.5 inches (6.5 cm). The fish gets its name from its relatively large protruding belly which resembles a hatchet. Hatchetfish will often jump out of the water when alarmed, propelled by their large, winglike pectoral fins. They also jump to catch small aerial insects.
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 Gasteropelecus sternicla 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.
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 type863 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 institutions15 of 41 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| SNSDlocation not on record | 111 |
| Chicago, US | 62 |
| Washington, US | 58 |
| Toronto, CA | 41 |
| University, National Zoological Collection of Surinamelocation not on record | 39 |
| Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldilocation not on record | 35 |
| Geneva, CH | 34 |
| Instituto de Biodiversidad de Venezuela - INBIOlocation not on record | 33 |
| Champaign, US | 24 |
| Stockholm, SE | 24 |
| Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de Sao Paulolocation not on record | 22 |
| CASlocation not on record | 20 |
| Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA)location not on record | 13 |
| Cambridge, US | 12 |
| University of Nebraskalocation not on record | 12 |
| PUC-RSlocation not on record | 12 |
| Ann Arbor, US | 10 |
| CIRA-UABJBlocation not on record | 10 |
| Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record | 9 |
| Montgomery, US | 8 |
| Universidad del Tolima (UT)location not on record | 8 |
| Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt (IAvH)location not on record | 8 |
| 7 | |
| Museo de Historia Natural “Gustavo Orcés V"location not on record | 7 |
| Londrina, BR | 6 |
| UNICAMPlocation not on record | 6 |
| Paris, FR | 5 |
| Instituto Amazónico de Investigaciones Científicas - SINCHIlocation not on record | 4 |
| FishBaselocation not on record | 3 |
| Frankfurt am Main | 3 |
| Wuzhou, CN | 2 |
| SNSB-Zoologische Staatssammlung Münchenlocation not on record | 2 |
| Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collectionlocation not on record | 2 |
| Oregon State Universitylocation not on record | 2 |
| UEMlocation not on record | 2 |
| USP-RPlocation not on record | 2 |
| UFMSlocation not on record | 1 |
| Los Angeles, US | 1 |
| Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (PUJ)location not on record | 1 |
| UNEMATlocation not on record | 1 |
| University of California San Diegolocation not on record | 1 |
Where the DNA of Gasteropelecus sternicla 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.