''Alestopetersius hilgendorfi'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

African tetra African tetras (family Alestidae, formerly spelled Alestiidae) are a group of characiform fish exclusively found in Africa. This family contains about 18 genera and 119 species. Among the best known members are the Congo tetra, and African tiger ...

s found in the middle

Congo River The Congo River ( kg, Nzâdi Kôngo, french: Fleuve Congo, pt, Rio Congo), formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the second largest river in the world by discharge ...

basin in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

. This species reaches a length of .

Etymology

The tetra is named in honor of zoologist and paleontologist

Franz Hilgendorf Franz Martin Hilgendorf (5 December 1839 – 5 July 1904) was a German zoologist and paleontologist. Hilgendorf's research on fossil snails from the Steinheim crater in the early 1860s became a palaeontological evidence for the theory of ev ...

(1839-1904), who was the one who established the ''

Petersius ''Petersius conserialis'' is a species of fish in the family Alestidae, and the sole member of the genus ''Petersius''. It is endemic to Tanzania. Its natural habitat is river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwa ...

'' genus in 1894.

References

*Paugy, D., 1984. Characidae. p. 140-183. In J. Daget, J.-P. Gosse and D.F.E. Thys van den Audenaerde (eds.) Check-list of the freshwater fishes of Africa (CLOFFA). ORSTOM, Paris and MRAC, Tervuren. Vol. 1. Alestidae Fish of Africa Taxa named by George Albert Boulenger Fish described in 1899 {{Characiformes-stub