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MORMYR

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 848 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MORMYR . The mormyrs (Mormyridae) are one of the most remarkable families of the Malacopterygian fishes, confined to the fresh See also:

waters of tropical See also:Africa and the See also:Nile. About See also:loo See also:species, referred to two sub-families and ten genera, are now known, a See also:great number of new forms having recently been discovered in the See also:Congo. They are curious-looking, highly aberrant fishes, very variable in the extent of the See also:vertical fin and in the See also:form of the See also:body, and especially the See also:head, which may be either extremely abbreviated or elongated into a rostrum, with or without a dermal appendage or " feeler." The shape of the head has suggested many of the specific names which have been given to these See also:fish, such as elephas, tapirus, tatnandua, caballus, ovis, See also:ibis, See also:numenius, &c. Some forms are See also:eel-shaped. The mormyrs are further remarkable for the enormous development of the See also:brain and for the problematic See also:organ which surmounts it; also as being among the few fishes in which an electric organ has been discovered. This organ, situated on each See also:side of the caudal region, is derived from the See also:muscular See also:system and is of feeble See also:power; it was See also:long considered as " pseudoelectric," See also:MORNAY Very little is known of the habits of these fishes. See also:Professor G. Fritsch, of See also:Berlin, during his stay in See also:Egypt for the purpose of experimenting on electric fishes, observed that they perish very rapidly when removed from the See also:water, and he had the greatest difficulty in keeping some alive in an See also:aquarium for two or three days. See also:Captain S. See also:Flower has recently been more successful, and the mormyrs have proved a great success in the Gezira aquarium, near See also:Cairo, examples of the species having lived from ten to twenty-six months. The species with comparatively large mouths feed principally on fishes and crustaceans, the others on tiny animals and See also:vegetable and more or less decomposed See also:matter.

P. Delhez, on the Congo, found that many are attracted to the See also:

borders of the See also:river in the neighbourhood of human dwellings, where they feed on the refuse thrown into the water. It is probable that the species with a rostrum use it to procure small See also:prey hidden between stones or buried in the mud, and that the fleshy See also:mental appendage with which they are provided is a tactile organ compensating the imperfection of the See also:vision in the See also:search for See also:food. Until quite recently absolutely nothing was known of the breeding-habits and development. To the See also:late J. S. Budgett we owe some very interesting observations made in the See also:Gambia on Gymnarchus niloticus, which makes a See also:nest, and the larvae of which are provided with filamentous See also:external gills. Venerated by the See also:ancient Egyptians, the mormyrs are often represented on hierogiyphics and mural paintings as well as in See also:bronze See also:models. The ' Oxyrhynchus," remarkable for its long, curved snout, is the most frequently depicted. A revision of the Mormyridae has been published by G. A. Boulenger in the Proc.

Zool. See also:

Soc. (1898), with a See also:bibliographical See also:index to the various anatomical and physiological contributions. The See also:skull has been minutely studied by W. G. Ridewood, Journ. Linn. Soc. (Zool. See also:xxix., 1904, p. 188). Figures of the most remarkable forms will be found in Boulenger's Poissons nouveaux du Congo, See also:Ann. See also:Mus.

Congo (Zool. i. and ii., 1898–1902), and in his Fishes of the Nile (See also:

London, 1907, 400) On the breeding habits of Gymnarchus, cf. J. S. Budgett, Trans. Zool. Soc. (1901), xvi. 126. (G. A.

End of Article: MORMYR

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