Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) > Osteoglossiformes
(Bony tongues) > Mormyridae
Etymology: Petrocephalus: Latin, petra = stone + Greek, kephale = head (Ref. 45335).
Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Freshwater; demersal. Tropical
Africa: lower and upper Luapula River system in Zambia (Ref. 91771).
Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 11.9 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 91771)
Morphology | Morphometrics
soft rays: 30 - 35. Diagnosis: Number of anal fin rays between 30 and 35; anal fin length 24.4-27.8% of standard length; preanal length 54.3-59.0% of standard length (Ref. 91771). Caudal peduncle depth 26.9-33.1% of its length (Ref. 91771).
Type locality (Lufubu River) is a braided rocky channel with dense riparian forest; water flow rapid, but also deep pools providing slacker flow areas; substrate is rocky but with considerable amounts of leaf litter; some sections with mats of aquatic water ferns and mosses and filamentous algae (Ref. 91771).
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae
Kramer, B., R. Bills, P. Skelton and M. Wink, 2012. A critical revision of the churchill snoutfish, genus Petrocephalus Marcusen, 1854 (Actinopterygii: Teleostei: Mormyridae), from southern and eastern Africa, with the recognition of Petrocephalus tanensis, and the description of five new species. Journal of Natural History 46(35-36):2179-2258. (Ref. 91771)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 119314)
CITES (Ref. 115941)
Threat to humans
Common namesSynonymsMetabolismPredatorsEcotoxicologyReproductionMaturitySpawningSpawning aggregationFecundityEggsEgg development
ReferencesAquacultureAquaculture profileStrainsGeneticsAllele frequenciesHeritabilityDiseasesProcessingMass conversion
Estimates of some properties based on models
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805
= 0.5000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01622 (0.00710 - 0.03704), b=2.84 (2.66 - 3.02), in cm Total Length, based on LWR estimates for this Genus-body shape (Ref. 93245
Trophic Level (Ref. 69278
): 3.3 ±0.4 se; Based on size and trophs of closest relatives
Resilience (Ref. 69278
): High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Vulnerability (Ref. 59153
): Low vulnerability (14 of 100) .