''Mastacembelus ellipsifer'' is a species of spiny eel that is endemic to

Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika () is an African Great Lake. It is the second-oldest freshwater lake in the world, the second-largest by volume, and the second-deepest, in all cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. It is the world's longest freshwater lake. ...

in Africa and sometimes kept in aquariums. Although sometimes called the Tanganyikan spiny eel, it is only one of fifteen spiny eel species in the Tanganyikan basin (fourteen endemic).

Description

''M. ellipsifer'' can up to long. It is brown, with a darker ring-shaped pattern running down its back. Its dorsal fins are hard. The eel is endemic to Lake Tanganyika and can commonly be found along shores. It is also found in

intermediate zone In Sri Aurobindo's philosophy, the Intermediate zone refers to a dangerous and misleading transitional spiritual state between the ordinary consciousness and true spiritual realisation. Similar notions can be found in mystical literature, such ...

s. ''M. ellipsifer'' prefers coastal waters with a sandy, rock, or a muddy bottom. The species environment is benthopelagic freshwater. ''M. ellipsifer'' eats small fish in the wild, and is a

nocturnal Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...

species. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. It was one of the species that was photographed as part of a

FishBase FishBase is a global species database of fish species (specifically finfish). It is the largest and most extensively accessed online database on adult finfish on the web.

mission that had the primary objective to document and photograph the rich fish diversity of Lake Tanganyika with the help of

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Octobe ...

Dr. Tyson R. Roberts.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q28766029 ellipsifer Fish of Lake Tanganyika Fish described in 1899