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Bluntnose Knifefish (Brachyhypopomus gauderio)
Photo: Guille Iván Spajic (CC BY-NC)
⚡ Native species of the Iberá

Bluntnose Knifefish

Brachyhypopomus gauderio

The electric fish of the Iberá. It generates a weak electric field to navigate and to talk with its own kind in murky water.

It gives no dangerous shocks: its electricity is a radar and a language. Special organs produce pulses that sketch its surroundings in the dark and let males and females recognise each other. At night, males turn up the power to court.

Behaviour

Nocturnal. By day it hides in floating vegetation; at night it cruises with a rigid body, rippling a single ribbon-like fin.

How and when to see it

Hard to see, easy to be next to: it lives in almost any vegetated marsh. With a torch and patience, at night beside the water hyacinths.

Where to see it in the Iberá

The gateways of the Great Iberá Park where bluntnose knifefish has confirmed presence:

Tours to see it

Verified providers operating at the gateways where bluntnose knifefish lives. You contact them directly on WhatsApp from the app.

Species profile

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